Everlasting Light
by SomeGirl8
Summary: I only went to this talk show to see the Black Keys perform.. But I had to go and win some stupid price, and now they expect me to go on a date with all-time favorite and all kinds of sexy  movie star Edward Cullen! Yeah, I don't think so, dudes.
1. Chapter 1

**Author Note:**

**I've been reading so many wonderful stories on this website! While reading, this idea began to develop in my head and I decided to give it a try! ****Often Bella and Edward feel an instant connection or a complete adoration towards each other fro the very beginning. I wonder though, what if one of them isn't necessarily open to the idea of them being together? Would that be a fun story to read..? **

**So... This is my first attempt at writing fanfiction and honestly, I have no idea if it will be any good :D So please tell me at the end of this first chapter if you would like to read a second chapter (and maybe even a third one?). Be honest, I can handle it (but only if you have exclusively positive things to say of course).**

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><p><span>Chapter One<span>

This was ridiculous. Why was here again? No, the more important question was: how could one get all these crazy women to stop screaming? I knew why I was here. The Black Keys. I was going to see them play live, and I would do anything to make that happen. Even if it meant enduring the craziness of women that were in love with some fictional character. I mean, for the love of God, he was not _that_ good looking. When I looked to my right, I saw Alice with her fingers pushed in her ears and a look of sheer panic in her eyes. I almost felt sorry for her. Almost. Because I remembered damn well she was the reason we were here. She was the reason we were not going to the concert tonightbut instead had to settle for only one song they were going to play on the popular late night show "Tanya Talks". I was very much hoping they would maybe do a few more as a "warm up the crowd" kind of thing, but looking around me I realized this crowd could use a cool down. After giving Alice one of my best death glares – I knew it was a good one because she pushed her fingers even further into her ears, she must have reached her eardrums by now - I turned back to the stage.

The Black Keys were my new favorite band, and when I discovered they were giving a concert in Chicago, I screamed loudly, much like the woman to my right was doing for the last hour. Yes, I said hour. Alice, my former best friend, was supposed to get us tickets online as soon as it was humanly possible. Since I had to work a shift at the restaurant, I had no choice but to leave the task to her. Yeah, I was never doing that again. Of course she apologized a billion times, and come on I had to understand that when Zara presented their new exclusive line on the internet "it was a chance no girl could pass on". Apparently, I was not a girl.

After five hours of the silent treatment and a lot of my infamous death glares, she figured out that this was not something I would easily forgive. It was quite an achievement for her; she was probably one of the most tactless persons I knew. But she pulled some strings, called some people in the fashion industry that owed her for a thing or two and here we were: in the audience at Tanya Talks. Which was actually kind of cool. I mean, she was a legend, and I watched her show multiple times after school. But I very conveniently forgot the hysterics that are very much part of it, especially when it's Tanya giving her favorite things away. However, today was not such a day. Today, apparently, was all about presenting the favorite thing of the female and gay population of America. Alice failed to mention this small fact to me, knowing that in my current state I would not be very pleased to know that the chance of actually hearing the Black Keys would be rather slim due to hundreds of hysterically excited women. But I was going to see them play, hear them sing and nothing could spoil that for me. It was the mantra that I forced to play as some kind of screensaver in my mind, trying to block out all other noise. Which was as easy as convincing my dad to let me get a belly button ring when I was thirteen.

"Can't believe we are going to see him! He will be less than 25 yards away, do you think he will see us? How does my hair look? I think this new color will match with his hair color perfectly, what do you think?" the woman next to me asked her friend.

This was actually an improvement: she was now talking instead of making unintelligible sounds. However, her reddish hair looked ridiculous on her, especially with that way too tight pink dress she was wearing. Seriously, you would think that her friend would tell her she was embarrassed by even being associated with her. Ah, the difficulty of friendship.

"Oh my God I still can't get over the fact that you're actually wearing that oversized Black Keys t-shirt, Bella. What if the camera points at us, someone we know is watching and sees you in this state of being absolutely underdressed? You embarrass me, Swan, you really do. Why couldn't you have worn the outfit I laid out for you?" See, that was why Alice is still my best friend.

"Ali, I'm here for one reason only and you know this. And since when have I ever cared what people think of my clothes?" She rolled her eyes at me, probably remembering that day not too long ago when I had stepped out of our apartment in my jeans that had more holes in them than actual fabric. I had totally worn them out, but they were comfy and I didn't care that "I would freak people out" – Alice's words, not mine. But I did listen to her today when she forced me out of said jeans, drawing the line at a public freak show. Looking around me, I knew that my favorite jeans were neither a sufficient nor were they a necessary condition to create a freak show. I swear I just saw a woman kissing a picture of him. Or was it a guy? People are crazy.

Today's show was all about Edward Cullen. What kind of a name is that anyway? Were his parents high when they gave him such a dorky name? I really hoped Tanya would ask him that question. He was a famous actor now and just recently starred in a new movie, one without vampires. Didn't know that was possible. Anyway, it was a reason for public appearances and therefore in a few minutes he would be sitting on that couch. One hour ago, one of the production assistants told us all that not only was he here to talk about his new movie and other stuff (insert a lot of squealing and shrieking), there was also going to be a surprise for the audience. Three women fainted when they heard that. And we didn't even know what the surprise was going to be. There were probably eight ambulances lined up outside for when they revealed this big secret. At least one heart attack was about to happen.

"Will everybody please sit down and be silent. Once Tanya walks in through that door on the left over there, you can stand and applaud. Please try to watch the signals on the screen that will indicate when it has to be quiet again. We need silence during the show for everybody to actually hear the interview." It was clear that Mr. Assistant was as pleased about the – mostly middle-aged – huddle of women as I was. I liked him immediately.

It got quiet and I fully enjoyed those peaceful moments, knowing they would be over very soon. Then Tanya came on stage and I jumped up. I felt the energy in the room change and immediately was drawn into the show. Her entrance also meant that we were again a step closer to seeing the Black Keys. I felt Alice's hand squeeze mine, and looking at her gigantic smile I knew she realized the same thing.

"Hellooooooooooo everybody, welcome to another Tanya Talk! Today we have as our guests the leading actor and actress of the new blockbuster movie _See you later_. Thankfully _we _will be seeing them sooner, instead of later! They are here to tell us about their latest experience on the big screen. And maybe we'll even hear something about the latest developments in their love lives as well." Screaming right in my ear. Yep, that was it, I was going to be deaf in one hour.

"On top of that there will be music from the Black Keys, whose music stars in the movie as well."

"Woooohooooooooooooooo!" Alice and I did our best to make the reason for our presence known. My neighbor stopped hyperventilating for a moment to give me a weird and uncomprehending look. Yeah bitch, not everyone was here to drool all over Mr. Cullen, get over it.

Ah what song would they play? Probably the song specially made for this movie. But I was hoping for _Everlasting Light_, it was my favorite. Someone asking you to be their everlasting light? Yeah, that had to be one of the most romantic things ever. Ali made fun of me when I confessed this to her. I wasn't exactly a – loveydovey - kind of person, and romance mostly made me laugh instead of.. eh what were you supposed to do when someone did a romantic thing? Exactly, that was how little feeling of romance I had in my entire body. There was alcohol involved when I told her about being someone's everlasting light and by the end of that night she had three different guys coming up to me and asking something about a light. The last guy apparently didn't quite understand her, asking me for an everlasting light while he was holding a cigarette between his lips. We laughed, very hard. She was only joking, because she was actually always pushing me to be more into the whole love thing. I hadn't had a single date since I moved to the US from back home in the Netherlands. She understood that for the last few months taking care of myself was all I was capable of doing. I couldn't even begin to think about someone else in that picture as well. That was very slowly changing, however, and I was glad for it.

"Whether he's a good kisser? Well Tanya, I never kiss and tell, haha." Fake laughter caught my attention. I had been so absorbed in my own thoughts that I failed to notice that the first guest had already appeared on stage and was now sitting on Tanya's couch. Who was she again? I turned my head to Alice to ask her, when she already whispered the answer in my ear: "That's Leah, his costar in the movie. She always wears way too slutty clothes which is a real shame cause she has a perfect figure."

"But if you only look at those lips, you don't really need my answer, do you?" Leah said.

The public went wild when they showed a picture of him on the screens. Oh wow, and this was only his picture. I was beginning to fear for the lives of some of the women here today.

"So tell me, Leah, what are your plans for the future?"

I zoned out again, not very interested in Leah's movie ambitions. My thoughts drifted off to my own ambitions. What was I going to do? I was reaching a point where I knew I couldn't much longer work at Rich's Flavors. Not that I didn't like it there; I actually loved it. Rich, the owner, was one of the most eccentric people I ever met and I instantly adored him. Only the nicest people worked there, and I quickly became part of the family. Which was a good thing, since my own family was an ocean away. But working there was becoming more and more a postponement of making choices than something else. While I was preoccupied with my own thoughts, Alice shoved her elbow into my side.

"What the hell, Ali, that hurts like crazy!"

"Well, Bella. I know that look on your face and it means you were shutting the whole world out and I thought you might like to know", and then she raised her voice to maximum volume "that the band is coming on stage at this very moment."

Her yelling in my face had me turning my head to the stage immediately. I got that euphoric feeling in my stomach when something that you are looking forward to with your whole being is about to start. Dan, the lead singer, announced that they would play their new song and although it wasn't the one I wanted to hear, I was excited to hear their new material. Once he struck the first chord, I was lost in the music. I didn't hear what Alice said to me, I didn't hear all the other women that were undoubtedly waiting for the song to be over, I didn't have any thoughts going through my mind anymore. I just stood there, swaying lightly from side to side as I let myself drown in the music. Every note they played, every word his voice sang, they all washed over me and in that moment I was extremely content. All too soon it was over and Tanya was hugging and thanking them. As I watched them leave, I once again felt a pang of jealousy for all the people who _did _get a ticket to their concert tonight.

"You think they will play that one song you love so much tonight at the concert?" Yep, tactless. I turned to Alice, searching for the perfect smartass answer, but I couldn't even start my sentence.

"Ladies, I know you have had to be patient, but the moment you've been waiting for is here. The man that stars in your wildest dreams, the face we all wish we could look at all day long, the body we wish we had in bed next to us all night long: he was voted sexiest man alive two years in a row and on top of that he is an amazing actor as well. Please welcome, Edwaaaaaaaard Cullennnnnn!"

An earthquake, something along the lines of 5 on the Richter scale: that was the best description for the situation when he entered the stage. The women went crazy; they went wild. It was like throwing one piece of delicious meat in the middle of a large group of starving lions. All the women actually reached for him, their arms outstretched towards him hoping to somehow feel him even though they were far away. The noise was literally indescribable. Alice and I looked like idiots, frantically pushing our fingers in our ears, and it helped not one little bit. I was scared, to be honest. And I actually felt bad for the guy, this had to be scary for him too, right? He looked a little afraid and maybe even a little nervous, constantly touching his hair. Once the noise died down – which took five minutes and a lot of angry warning signals from Mr. Assistant – Tanya turned to him.

"So Edward, does this always happen when you enter a room?" Everybody laughed. You had to give it to her, she knew how to break the ice. They started talking about his movie and I found myself listening intently. He seemed like a genuine person, something that I didn't expect really.

"I'm actually quite nervous about this movie. I mean people always associate me with my role in the "Taste my Blood" series. Don't get me wrong, I'm very thankful for what that role has brought me, but when your own mother is starting to call you Drake, you know something has to change. So this movie feels like a whole new beginning, and I'm terrified of failing and reading devastating reviews in the paper."

"Well, I saw it already and I absolutely loved it. You were very convincing as the widowed father of an 8 year old. The chemistry between you and him is amazing by the way. How was it to act so intensively with a child?"

"Oh it was great! Tyler is one of the easiest kids I ever met. He wasn't nervous at all. I was a wreck sometimes and he would be like, "Edbro, you'll be fine. Just don't think about all these cameras and focus on me." Seriously he was the one keeping me sane. At those moments I thought to myself: do I really need an 8 year old to keep me sane? Which actually made me feel insane again, ha!"

Tanya laughed as she asked "Edbro?"

"Oh yeah, that's his name for me. He likes to call everybody bro, but then he personalizes it so you'll know which bro he is talking about. He's funny like that."

"So tell us about the women in your life." Screaming surrounded me. "That's what they're all here for I'm afraid." More screaming. "Are you dating anybody at the moment?" The screaming was so loud at this point, it was only audible for dogs.

Edward looked around for a moment at all the women and the fear came back into his eyes a little. When he was just talking to Tanya on that couch he was relaxed, joking, even showing that trademark smirk he's famous for. But he suddenly seemed to have realized that those crazy women were still there and ready to jump him.

"Uh yeah. No, I'm not really dating anyone special at the moment." He turned to Tanya, probably to try and relax a bit. "You know how it is in this world, it's hard to see if anyone is interested in you, really getting to know you, or is just enchanted by the fame or the money or whatever."

Pff, what a cliché.

"Yes, I understand completely, it's very difficult. There have been rumors now for years that you were involved with Mischa who also starred in the "Taste my Blood" series. The rumors about Emmett and Rose, your other co-actors, turned out to be true. What about you?"

"I never dated her. She is a really nice person and we get along great. We spend a lot of time together: shooting the movie, doing the press tour, stuff like that. So that made a lot of people think there was more. There never was, though. As for Emmett and Rose, well, he actually wanted to pursue a relationship with me. I mean, he is desperately in love with me, carries my picture with him all the time. Stuff like that. But I told him over and over again: it ain't gonna happen. So eventually he settled for Rose."

He had me laughing really hard at that one. Rosalie Hale was one of the most popular actresses in the world, she was stunningly beautiful, got her college degree in psychology and came across as very funny in the few interviews I read with her. She was the perfect woman.

Alice was not really sitting beside me anymore, she was kind of bouncing. She had this kind of dreamy expression in her eyes as she was starting to get infatuated with Edward like everybody here seemed to be. She was moving her head constantly to get a better view of him. Locking her eyes with mine, she said, "Switch seats with me, you have a better view of the stage and the Black Keys left already, so there's no reason for you to want to sit there anymore, right?"

"Ali, come on, just stay where you are. He will be gone in like 10 minutes, probably."

"Please Bella, you'll be my favoritest bestest friend, I promise", she all but whined. Truthfully, although my neighbor scared me, Alice's neighbor was a whole different kind of scary. Her eyes were opened so wide, I believed her eyeballs were about to pop out. But Alice looked at me with those damn puppy eyes, and I sighed heavily but started to get up to switch places. She squealed happily when she found out her new view of Edward was indeed far better than before. I was now mainly looking at a very bad perm of the woman in front of me. Oh well.

"So people, in a minute we're going to watch the trailer of Edward's new movie. But before that happens, I first have a surprise for you!" It actually became very quiet; I didn't expect that. My eyes were on Edward, who started uncomfortably moving on the couch. Did he not know about his surprise? Or did he know and was this knowledge making him uneasy?

"For a good cause, Edbro here has agreed to go on a date with one of the ladies in this audience!"

All hell broke loose when she said that. Oh God no, he had to go out with one of these screamers? Maybe he liked a screamer? Although judging by the look on his face, not so much. There was crying everywhere and I saw at least five women being carried away by security guards.

"So, Edward, what we're going to do is, you say a number between 0 and 500. All 500 seats here are numbered and the number you choose will define the lucky lady who gets to go on a date with you to the best restaurant of Chicago, tonight!"

"Ok then. Well, I guess I'll keep it simple and use my birthday. That's March 11th, so 311 is the lucky number."

All women were franticly looking underneath their seats. But I heard Alice next to me in a very small voice, "That's my number. My seat is 311."

"You're shitting me, right? Are you serious?"

"Yes, YES! It's me! I'm sitting on 311! Oh no. Oh wait. Shit, we switched."

She looked at me now with a look of bewilderment and a little anger. I looked at her, trying to figure out what the problem was exactly. Then it hit me: we switched. I was sitting on seat number 311 and I was the one going to the finest restaurant in Chicago, apparently. Oh shit.

A spotlight hit me and I couldn't see a thing anymore. "Tell me, what is the name of the lady that Edward gets to spend the whole night with?" I heard all the implications in Tanya's question. The whole night. Oh my God. I did not want this, but I couldn't really say that out loud on public television, could I? "Eh, my name is Bella." I think it came out more as a question than an answer.

"Well Bella, congratulations! You'll be brought backstage so you two can meet and hear about all the details of this evening. Have fun!" Applause followed, accompanied by hate radiating off the faces of the women surrounding me. I think I heard the faint sound of eyeballs popping out of their orbits next to me.

"Take off your shirt."

"What? Take off my… what?"

"Bella, look at your shirt, you can_not_ meet Edward like this, it's embarrassing."

"No way, Ali, the shirt beneath this one is more embarrassing. In fact it's practically non-existent, believe me. It's too small."

"Give me the damn shirt, Bella, slutty is better than ugly."

"You should get that printed on that black dress you wore to your date last night."

"You're calling me slutty?"

"You're calling me ugly?"

She glared at me.

I caved. Why do I always cave? As I pulled the shirt over my head, Mr. Assistant came up to me to guide me backstage. I whispered goodbye to Ali and told her I would text her as soon as I knew more. She hugged me, told me she wasn't jealous at all and wished me good luck. She could lie like a pro. I made a mental note to ask her for advice on that later.

As we walked backstage, Mark – formerly known as Mr. Assistant – was talking to me, but I barely heard a word of what he said. Instead, I was thinking that maybe this wasn't such a bad development after all. Of course, I still had to find a way to get out of this, because there was no way I was going to go out with a famous movie star, but maybe the Black Keys were still around somewhere. I could maybe get them to sign my shirt! Which I wasn't wearing anymore. Damn Alice for taking my shirt. Oh well, I would just let them sign my boobs instead. And then never wash them again. It would have to do. Mark brought me to some kind of dressing room and told me that Edward would come down and meet me here when the trailer finished. I took a deep breath. Okay, it wasn't going to be hard to cancel the date. He probably wasn't really anxious to date some kind of fan in Tanya's audience. Except of course for the tiny fact that I wasn't a fan. I started looking around and saw that it was a kind of modest dressing room. Seeing all the stuff in there, I guessed that it was probably Edward's. On the table lay a picture of him and another guy. Edward had his arm around the guy's neck in a tight grip like they were wrestling, and they were both laughing really hard. I smiled at the faces before me, as the fun they had in that moment literally radiated from the picture.

"That's my cousin, Jasper. I like to think I'm stronger than he is, but the truth is, two seconds after that picture was taken, he had me lying on the ground."

"Oh well, you can always blame that momentary weakness due to the flash of the camera."

"I tried that, but since there was no flash, I didn't only seem weak, I also came across as quite stupid."

I turned around and smiled at him. He was smiling right back at me and suddenly I understood why women fainted when they saw him. They were right; he was gorgeous. Hopefully there would still be one ambulance waiting outside.

"Hi, I'm Edward." When the words left his lips, he seemed to realize that they were kind of overdue.

"Oh yeah, I thought you looked familiar," I said with a grin. "I'm Bella."

"So, about this date…"

I breathed in. Here we go. "Yes about that, you really shouldn't go on a date with me."


	2. Chapter 2

**Author Note: Thank you so much for your response on the first chapter. I loved every review, message and alert I received! So here it is… chapter two. I'm excited! I've been playing this scene over and over in my head and I can't wait to find out what you guys think. **

**A few things before we begin. **

**First, a disclaimer (which applies to all following chapters as well): I don't own Twilight, someone else came up with that. I just use some parts of it to create something different. **

**Second, this chapter was beta'd by Project Team Beta (as was the first one). So thank you to Trilby97 and Jennrosee for making this chapter a whole lot better than it was!**

**Lastly, it turns out that Bella talks a lot to herself. She is kind of a chaotic mess ;) Anyway, the things she says to herself in her head (oh God, she's coming across as a total nut now, right?) are in **_**italics**_**. Hopefully this will make her chaotic thinking a little less undecipherable.**

**Enjoy!**

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><p><em>Give me one reason to stay here<em>

_And I'll turn right back around_

_Give me one reason to stay here_

_And I'll turn right back around_

_Said I don't want to leave you lonely_

_You got to make me change my mind_

Tracy Chapman – Give me one reason

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><p>Chapter Two<p>

"I shouldn't?" He looked a bit taken aback.

"No. Really, I'm just saying this for your own good. I know it seems ungrateful or something, and I'm sure that most women out there would love to go on this date with you. In fact maybe you should ask one of them. I mean yeah, you'll probably need a hearing aid by the time you're 30. But hey, everyone needs to make sacrifices for love, right? And I'm sure whichever one you'll pick will be very sweet and maybe in the end that is what counts and..." Okay, yes I was rambling. And I was very much doubting that last statement. She wouldn't be sweet; she would be creepy. But maybe he was into that sort of thing, you never know.

He was looking at me with a kind of amused expression. I was used to that expression; I got it a lot when I opened my mouth and, you know, words came out. It's just that I often felt like I didn't really have any control over what fell off my lips and people didn't tend to follow my weird train of thought. Anyway, he looked amused.

"Why?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Why shouldn't I go on this date with you? You must have some reasons, right? I want to hear them, you know, for my own good." He smirked.

_Okay, he wanted to be convinced? Hell, I could do that._

"Well, for starters, you are the – what was it again – super-hot, super-sexiest man in the universe? I'm not hot, let alone super-hot, and I don't even know how to be sexy. You're this very famous movie star kind of guy, and you can have any famous, sexy, movie star chick alive. She'll probably suit you much better than I ever will. Let's see, what else? Oh, I'm a very impatient person, and I say weird stuff at the most inconvenient times. I have practically no money and the only reason I can still survive is because my friend insists that I pay less rent than she does, which makes me a kind of parasite, I guess. That can't be attractive, right? I work in a restaurant, but I'm not very good at it since I drop at least one plate a day. They call me Droppy, and no, I'm not kidding."

_Why was I telling him this stuff again?_

But before I gave it some more thought, even more words formed in my head and rushed out of my mouth. "I have no idea what I want to do with my life, and you really don't want to associate with the mess I am. We live really far away from each other since you live in LA and I live here. Oh and to be really honest, I only came out here today because I desperately wanted to see the Black Keys." I breathed out.

_Yes, that was one hell of a list. There was no way he was going to go on this date_.

I smiled at him, letting him know he could blow me off easily. No hard feelings whatsoever.

"Ok. This isn't working." It was weird. It was the answer I wanted, but I still felt a little pang of hurt in my stomach.

_Stop being such a baby, Bella._

"Yes, ok. Good, we agree. I'll get out of your way and you—," While I walked towards the door, trying to finish the sentence without having any idea what I wanted to say, he grabbed my arm. It felt weird, —him touching me. The good kind of weird though. As the rational person I am, I ignored that feeling completely.

"No, I mean you trying to convince me not to go on this date isn't working."

"It isn't?"

"Nope. I can easily refute almost all of your so-called reasons. Let's see. You are hot, having the whole big, brown eyes thing and long, brown, curly hair to accompany them. Besides you are very sexy, but you don't know it, which is, let me tell you, the best kind of sexy." He was smirking again, and still holding my arm.

_Oh ,all gods of the world, help me. _

"The movie star chicks you were referring to are almost always very boring and way too much into their own looks. Plus, they don't eat and I hate eating alone. So I'll pass on that suggestion if you don't mind. You being impatient is not a problem. I'm super patient, so we'll just complete each other in that area. I have enough money for the both of us and then some. You may not know what you want to do in life, but you don't strike me as a girl without any ambition, so no, it's not a turn-off. The distance is actually your only valid point, but come on, we're talking about one date and we'll see from there, Droppy." He grinned while he let go of my arm and put his fingers under his chin. Posing much like Rodin's Thinker, he was obviously trying to remember if there were any other reasons I had given him.

"Oh and that last thing about the Black Keys, well, me too."

"What?"

"I came on the show today because they were going to play. I've been wanting to see them play for years. My manager was trying to convince me to go to Tanya Talks. I'm not a big fan of these talk shows; they put you on the spot, and the crowd is fucking crazy most of the time. But he knows me well, so he arranged for them to play during the show, knowing it would get me to say yes."

"Really? Wow."

"Yes, really. So are you having dinner with me tonight, or do I have to convince you that it will in fact be for your own good?"

"Well, I don't know. Do you think they'll serve any vegetarian meals? Cause you know, in those fancy restaurants they almost never serve anything without meat or fish. And why is it that people always think vegetarians eat fish? They're animals too, you know?"

"Bella." Oh God, the way he said my name. It should be forbidden.

"Hmm?"

"You are being very random again. I'm sure we can get you a veggie burger or something. But the rambling probably means you're still having doubts, so you leave me no choice but to play my last card." He sighed very dramatically, which made me laugh.

"I have tickets to the concert tonight. Have dinner with me, and I will give you the extra ticket."

"Now, if you would have started by saying that, we could have saved ourselves these last 10 minutes."

"And miss that great speech you gave about all your inabilities? Where's the fun in that?"

I glared at him, but then realized what he said just moments ago. He had tickets. To the Black Keys. And I could see them, tonight. He was looking at me, smiling expectantly. I felt my face break out into a smile and before I could think about what I was doing, I lunged forward. Throwing my arms around his neck, I yelled "Hell, yes I'll go out with you tonight!"

He laughed as he wrapped an arm around me to keep me from falling down. I was still making happy noises when I realized who I was pushing my chest against and whose chest I was feeling. And what a nice chest it was. His, I mean. Although I couldn't say that I was unsatisfied with my own.

_Not the point, Bella. Okay, letting go now._

I slowly untangled my arms from behind his neck and took a step back. Blushing slightly over my actions, I looked up to see him smirking at me.

"You know, I'm kind of offended. I feel like the only reason we're going to dinner is so that you can go to a concert. It hurts— I have to be honest with you," he joked. "I mean, what would happen if I told you that I actually talked to them earlier and got them to sign one of my shirts?"

"What?" I shrieked. "Do you think they're still here? Are they close to your dressing room? You think they will sign my boobs? Eehh, I mean my shirt?" Great, I was blushing again.

_Think about your words, Bella, think! _

Turned out, I wasn't the only one blushing. Edward's eyes kept flickering down to where my tiny top ended and the swell of my breasts clearly showed.

"Aw, does the big movie star get embarrassed when a girl talks about her boobs?"

He glared at me. "No, of course not. I was thinking about something else, something that has nothing to do with you… ehm... I can't talk my way out of this one, huh?"

"Nope, you cannot mister." The movie star was speechless because of me. I tried to keep the smug look from my face, I really did. Oh well, good thing I wasn't afraid to fail.

"I have to disappoint you though; they're already gone. Who knows, maybe you could catch them tonight after the concert. And in case you can't get them to sign your boobs, if you ask really nicely, maybe I will." Ah the cocky attitude was back. I decided to ignore his last comment. I also decided to ignore the way it made my body tingle.

"Ok, we can go. But you need to lend me a shirt or something because there is no way I'm going to the finest restaurant in Chicago wearing a shirt that I bought around ten years ago. It's too small!"

He looked me right in the eyes and then let his eyes travel down—slowly and purposefully. I felt his gaze upon me everywhere, and it even made me shiver. That was weird. Normally people didn't have that effect on me.

"I agree. It is too small. But you look hot as hell in it."

I couldn't look him in the eyes. Taking compliments had never been easy for me.

"Well, I don't know, that's not really the point. It's all Alice's fault anyway. She claimed I couldn't meet you in my perfectly fine and not at all oversized band t-shirt. I'm never listening to her again."

"Bella," he interrupted me, "I didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable. Just don't think that the shirt looks stupid on you, because it doesn't. At all. But if you want, you can maybe put this shirt over it?" He gave me a blue and green checkered shirt, and I put it on but left the buttons open. While I rolled up the sleeves, I thanked him.

"No worries. You kind of look like a cute lumberjack."

"Yes, just give me an axe to complete the look."

"Not gonna happen, Droppy."

"So how does this work? Are we going to the restaurant on our own? Or is there a car? I take it we won't be taking a bus right? Oh shit, I'll have to pick up my bike tomorrow probably."

"You came to the studios by bike?"

"Duh."

He didn't dare to question this any further. Shaking his head, he began to collect his stuff. Mumbling something about the danger of bikes, he grabbed his clothes, a book and a few pictures, put them in a backpack and looked at me.

"Ready to go?"

"How much money do you make?"

He blinked. Clearly confused he asked, "I beg your pardon?"

"You said that you have a lot of money right? I'm just wondering why on earth you carry a backpack around that looks like it's older than you and has survived numerous wars."

"Oh that. Well, it's my backpack that I use for camping and hiking with Jazz and our friends. We used to go a lot, but I don't really have the time anymore. I try to go at least once a year though. The backpack is kind of a reminder of who I am outside this whole Hollywood business. That probably sounds very dramatic or something." He laughed a little nervously. How he could go from the cocky, hot guy to this shy boy so fast was beyond me.

"No, it sounds really nice actually. I would love to see the big movie star put up a tent."

As soon as the words left my mouth, I knew another Bella-moment had taken place. By the look of amusement in his eyes, I knew he got the double meaning of that as well.

"Can we just go before I blurt out any more stupidities please?"

"Oh, what? Outside of these studios you're only going to speak in very rational and well thought sentences? If that's the case, I'll have to cancel. I was hoping to have a few laughs tonight."

"I can't make any promises, but statistically, you and your laughing should be fine."

"Let's go then."

We walked out of the dressing room where Mark was apparently waiting for us. He explained that there was a limo right outside at the back entrance of the studio. He warned us that there was a lot of press at the front of the building and that I shouldn't be scared—it was all part of it. Nobody was supposed to know where we were going to have dinner, so if everything worked out according to plan, we would have a quiet dinner. I just kept nodding my head, trying to show no sign of emotions on my face. On the inside, however, I was very worried and scared as hell. Mark's speech suddenly reminded me that I was going on a date. If that wasn't nerve wrecking enough, it was a date with somebody who had photographers following him. I started panicking a little and tried really hard to ignore the screaming voice in my head that told me to get the hell out as fast as I could. Instead, I was listening to a voice that, not very surprisingly, sounded a lot like Alice's. It said I should, just this once, not chicken out and go for it.

Oh, chicken—I was in the mood for that._ Damn it, why did I have to go and tell him I was a vegetarian?_

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><p><strong>Let me know what you think! I'd love to hear it. And tell me, how would you react if you got to go on a date with Edward C.? ;)<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**I present to you: the next chapter! It was supposed to cover their whole date, but they talk too much… Especially Bella, she just does not shut up. Anyway, hope you enjoy!**

**Little disclaimer: I didn't write any of the lyrics that are quoted by Bella and Edward below. I wish, though. I wish.**

**Beta'd by Trillby97 and dreamergirl87 of PTB, thank you!**

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><p><em>You know me, I had plans<em>

_But they just disappeared_

_To the back of my mind_

The Black Keys - Little black submarines

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><p><strong>Chapter Three<strong>

It was my first time in a limousine. So, really, what did people expect me to do, just sit in my seat and wait for the ride to be over? Yeah, right. It felt great to stand here, my feet firmly on the floor of the car and my head and arms outside. I closed my eyes and felt the warm summer breeze blowing through my hair. I felt myself relax while slowly breathing in and out. This was awesome. This was probably the reason why people wanted to be rich. Everything becomes a lot more fun when you got to go there in a limousine, like doing groceries, or going to a dentist appointment.

I stretched out my arms and pretended to be standing on the front railing of a big cruise ship. In my mind, it may have been resembling the Titanic.

"Enjoying yourself, I see?"

His voice startled me. "No, what? I wasn't doing anything. And it certainly had nothing to do with Kate Winslet or a boat. You know, just in case that you thought it did. Just –you scared me and I start to ramble when that happens. Might be good to know that, you know, for future reference and all that. Not that I expect any future meetings or whatever it is you want to call this."

His laughing cut me off.

"I will shut up now."

"Please don't. I'm enjoying your helpless awkwardness. Would it make you more comfortable if I would be Leo in this little scenario you have going on? I can be all like 'do you trust me?' Really, it would be no problem."

He lowered his voice when pretending to be Leo. He was good, even though he only said a few words. He could give Mr. DiCaprio a run for his money. I found myself slightly gaping at him. Suddenly, I realized we were pretty close and I could see the different shades of green in his eyes. Pretty. Oh God, I thought his eyes were pretty. Danger!

I cleared my throat. That seemed to break the spell, for now.

"Should we declare this meeting officially opened then?" he asked.

"Yes, but let's not write any meeting minutes. Nobody ever reads them anyway."

"Good point. I'll leave my notebook in the limo." He smiled at me. "Sorry I had to take that phone call, but my mother gets very upset when her son doesn't answer twice in a row. And you don't want to see her upset; it's scary." He actually shivered, making me believe that he wasn't joking.

"That's ok. I would never keep you from talking to your mother." I smiled. He had no idea how true that statement was.

"Good to hear. I actually came up here to let you know we're almost there. So, maybe you want to get inside and uh… fix your hair or something?" My eyes widened. What was wrong with my hair? "Kate probably had a team of makeup artists making sure her hair remained tame while standing in the wind." He winked at me and disappeared inside again. I still stood there, my hair probably looking like I was just electrocuted. Great.

Once I was back in the car, I pulled my hair back and made a messy bun with the hair tie I always wear around my wrist. Because of the wind my hair got all curly, which was an advantage, so hopefully now I didn't look too stupid anymore. Who cared anyway? This was just a date with a famous actor in a way too fancy restaurant.

The driver opened the door for us and we got out of the car. His nametag told me his name was Riley.

"Thanks, Riley."

"You're welcome, Madam."

Riley had manners.

I was surprised to see a kind of deserted, grey place. I looked around, and Edward saw my confused expression. "We're actually at the back entrance of the restaurant. It's, uhm, a kind of precaution I take sometimes. You know, to avoid any paparazzi or fans, and that sort of stuff." He actually looked embarrassed.

"That's ok. I guess I just never thought of that. Let's go eat."

He gestured for me to go first, and a waiter opened the back entrance for us. Walking inside the place, I immediately felt uncomfortable, and not just because I was wearing what I would normally wear when I wanted to paint my living room. It was a glamorous, flashy place with very striking furniture in different kind of shapes, and lights in all colors. Tables were separated by large, exotic plants. People probably called this an eclectic place, which was a label invented for a space that was decorated by a colorblind interior designer going through some kind of life crisis. We were seated in an exclusive part of the restaurant, probably again in case anybody would recognize Edward. Our waitress was blond, tall, and hot if you were into the whole skinny-with-big-boobs thing, which I guess most guys are. She gave me a look which said that she totally agreed with me in thinking I was not at the right place here tonight. Well, screw her. By the way she kept glancing at Edward, I could guess who she would want to be doing the screwing.

I decided instead to focus on my menu. Big mistake. Clearly, I should've never passed any English exam ever, since I didn't even understand what one could eat here. I glanced at Edward who was deeply engrossed in his menu. Maybe he would be one of those guys that thought women belonged in the kitchen and were not supposed make any decisions themselves, which would mean that he would just order for me. That would be perfect. I could just sit here, eat some kind of caramel glazed lobster in a blue curry and be out of here in no time. I could probably convince Alice to get some pizza with me later.

"What are you having?" He looked at me with an amused expression that hinted he knew I had no idea what to order.

"Uh, I guess I'll just have whatever you're having?"

"Well, I'm having steak, and you said you wanted to eat a vegetarian meal, right?"

"They have steak?" I started studying my menu again. What did I miss? Maybe they called steak here something else, like tender cow flesh, or whatever.

Edward laughed, causing me to look up again. "I knew you were full of shit when you said you were a vegetarian." He studied me for a moment. "I'm sorry if you don't want to eat here. The producer actually chose this place. I had nothing to do with it. Promise."

"So if you got to pick, where would we be sitting now?" I asked him.

"Probably just a simple, small place where we could get a really good burger or something. I'm not really into all this fancy stuff, but people just assume that you are once you appeared in a movie and earned some money. I bet if you'd actually research these things, it would turn out that most actors just want some pizza, or a steak. The thing is though, these expensive restaurants can guarantee you privacy. Visiting an ordinary diner just isn't as much fun when people come up to you asking for autographs on body parts you really don't want to see while having dinner."

I thought for a little bit. This was never going to be a fun evening if we stayed here, that much I knew. Staying here would inevitably lead to many, many bloopers on my part, which would make him laugh at first. But the laughing would quickly turn to feeling uncomfortable and end with desperately trying to get rid of me. I owed it to my non-existent love life to make the most of this date, which meant we had to change sceneries. It was just one date after all. Nothing was going to happen after tonight. I could do this.

"Ok, let's go. I know a place."

He looked at me with a very questionable expression. "That sounds like you're a drug dealer. You're not though, right?"

"Why don't you come with me and find out?"

He wasn't making any move to get up and leave. I sighed. Did I really have to defend myself on this point?

"Of course I'm not a drug dealer! Didn't you hear me ramble complete nonsense today? You'd have to know by now that I'd be the worst drug dealer ever. Seriously, I could never pull it off, the lying, the sneaking around, the poker face. I'd probably mix everything up, too – selling salt during the day, putting coke in my pasta at night, that kind of stuff."

He was starting to see my point, I could tell.

"I'm actually taking you to this little café I know. Well, actually, I work there. I promise you won't have to worry about fans or paparazzi. And Rich makes a mean burger."

That convinced him. We got up, and he told the waitress on our way out that we were leaving. I may or may not have tried to trip her. Bitch thought she was better than me? I would show her. She was fine though, the aquarium with piranhas broke her fall. Unfortunately. I heard Edward snicker behind me.

Arriving at the limo outside, I turned to the driver. "Riley, we need some kind of disguise. Edward is going local here. Can you help us out? You must have something lying around in this big car. Please, Riley?" I made my eyes as big as possible and smiled at him. Lame, I know, but it usually worked.

"Well, I don't know. I always keep it pretty clean in here. Wait, let me see…" he trailed off as he walked away to his driver seat. He came back with a Jamaican cap that also had a wig in it. It was perfect. I beamed at Edward, who held both his hands up. "No way am I wearing that. Come on, Bella."

"I bet it looks great on you! Riley, what do you think?"

"Well, my son wore it to a costume party at school the other day and it made him look very handsome. I'm sure it will do the same for you, Sir." Riley was a little weird, it seemed.

Edward caved and we got in the limo again. I explained to Riley where we wanted to go and then went to sit next to Edward.

"Would you like some champagne? I didn't get to offer it to you earlier, with you playing Titanic and all that," Edward said.

"I would love some champagne", I answered, choosing to ignore that last part.

He gave me a glass, and I sat back to relax. I was having champagne in a limo with Edward Cullen sitting next to me. Life could be worse right now.

"Did you ever have sex in the back of a limo?" I forgot _I_ was usually the one to make a situation worse. I was berating myself on the inside while Edward was spitting out – probably very expensive – champagne.

"Are you seriously asking me this?" he asked while coughing.

"Well, I don't know! What am I supposed to talk about then? I've never been in a situation like this before, and I have no references regarding spending time with a movie star in a limo. I'm sorry."

"I can tell you this is not proper limo-conversation. Actually now that I think about it, I never talk when I'm in a limo, I just have sex with whoever is sitting next to me." I glared at him. He was totally making fun of me. Right? "Yep, I don't care who it is, as long as we have hot, dirty sex."

"Ha ha," I said dryly while trying to sound casual, although there was nothing casual about what it did to me when he combined the words 'hot', 'dirty', and 'sex'.

"Bella, I know it's hard to believe, but you can talk to me just like you talk to any normal person. Cause I am one; you know, a normal person. I breathe; I work; I drink beer; I eat; I take a dump."

"Really? We can talk about dropping a deuce, huh? I'm starting to like you more and more."

"That's what gets you going, Bella? I'm not so sure about this date anymore." He grinned at me. I smiled back. We could be normal. Hell, I could be normal. I mean, I could at least try.

"Tell me more about this movie you made. What's it about?"

"It's about a boy and a girl who grow up together. They have lived next door to each other since the day they were born. One day, when he's eight, he tells her 'see you later', like he does every day. But the next day he and his family are gone, sentencing them both into eternal heartbreak. They run into each other 20 years later when he's a tough business man and she's still a naïve small town girl. And, well, the rest is pretty much determined by the history of RomComs everywhere."

"She fakes her death and then he kills himself?"

He smiles. "Something like that, yes."

"I'm sorry to say this, but you sound more enthusiastic about the very beginning of the movie and I assume the male character then is played by an eight year old. You didn't like your part?" I asked him.

He frowned at me, and I hoped I didn't offend him. Shit. _Well done Bella, so much for trying to be nice and normal._

"I don't… —I mean, yes, you're right." He sounded a little surprised himself. "I never really thought about it like that. I remember reading the script. It was one of the many scripts my agent sent to me; they were all love stories with some sort of comedy in it. They kind of bored me, to be honest. When I started reading _See you later_, I don't know— the little kids just got to me." He smiled at me. "It's so simple then, right? When you're a kid, you just become friends with the first boy or girl you meet and you're done. I kind of miss that."

"I know what you mean. I have this friend I've known since our parents put us in the same baby box. I used to believe we were going to get married once we were grown-ups. The thing was, though, another girl had that same idea. God, we hated each other then. Fighting over a boy when we were four." I smiled, remembering. "Now we like to think everything was simple and fun when we were little, but those were some of the most serious fights I've had in my life." He was laughing. "You think I'm kidding, huh? I still have scars to prove it!"

"No, I believe you! I used to fight with Jasper all the time because he thought his action figures could beat mine. Still can't believe he thought Batman was stronger than Superman. Come on! Superman can fly. He would totally kick Batman's ass."

I had to smile at his sudden serious tone. I was suspecting this was still a sensitive issue between him and his cousin.

"You probably think I'm crazy now, right?" He asked with a little uncertainty.

"Although I think it is a little crazy to be afraid of the opinion of a crazy person," I said while pointing at myself, "no, I wasn't thinking you're crazy. I was thinking you're cute."

_Bella, did you just tell a guy he was cute?_ I did, didn't I? I never say things like that. Luckily, this guy heard stuff like this on a daily basis. Hell, he probably heard it on an hourly basis.

"If me talking about Superman makes you think I'm cute, I believe I just met my perfect match," he told me with a wink.

Before we could really enter dangerous territory, Riley announced we arrived at our destination. We were at Rich Flavors.

"Edward," I said quickly, "Please, please, don't judge me on whatever people in there tell you, okay? Promise me!" I loved my co-workers, sure. But if he thought _I_ was a little crazy, he was going to wonder why _they_ didn't take their pills this morning. I probably looked a little panicked but it didn't scare him off.

"Sure, Bella. As long as they provide me with food, I won't complain. You know, I assure you I can handle whatever you throw my way," he said while putting on his hat-and-wig-in-one. Riley opened the door and Jamaican Edward got out and offered me his hand. I took it and grinned at him, knowing that I was enjoying the fact that he was willing to look ridiculous for me way too much. _And don't even get me started on the feeling of my hand in his._

We entered the restaurant. It was a Tuesday which meant it was a slow night. This was a good thing for us since it meant less co-workers to deal with. Only Seth as far as I could tell, and Rich was probably in the kitchen.

"Bells! Didn't expect to see you tonight. What in God's name are you wearing? And who's your friend, man?" Seth thought he was so funny with his Jamaican accent. We had seen 'Cool Runnings' way too often together.

It was probably best not to use Edward's real name.

"This is Ed, we just met today, actually. Ed, this is Seth, my colleague and friend. It is best not to listen to anything he says as chances are high he will embarrass or offend you." I shot Seth a warning look. "Be nice," I told him. Seth was appraising Edward, looking him up and down, and up again.

"My, my, where do you find delicious things like this, Bells? More importantly, can you take me there some time, like tomorrow?" Seth asked. I saw a lady in the corner trying to get his attention. She probably wanted to order. The thing was with Seth though, once there was a hot piece of man candy – his words, not mine – in the room, he wasn't responsive to anything else anymore. Other than that, he was a pretty good waiter.

"Honey, you can lose the wig, you're not fooling anyone," Seth told Edward. He started to lead us to a table and we followed. I asked him what he meant, still trying to uphold the disguise. While we got seated, Seth turned around. I didn't trust that devilish grin on his face.

"Alice just texted me." Oh, shit. Looking at Edward he said, "Please take of that ridiculous wig so I can truly appreciate the hotness that is your hair. And if our little lady here gets too much for ya, let me know. I'll get her a lollipop. She'll be silent once she has something to suck on. We use that tactic all the time." He smiled sweetly, gave us some menus and left to serve other customers. He didn't dare look at me because he knew the look on my face could probably kill him. Kill him dead.

Edward was pretending to write something down. "Likes to suck on things," I heard him say under his breath. "Good to know, good to know." He looked up and smirked at me. It made my deadly look vanish right away. Not fair.

"We should leave. They know it's you. Alice blew our cover. Knowing Seth, the entire gay community will arrive here, like, one minute ago." I was lying, he would never do that. But at this point, I'd rather face hysteric men with highly developed fashion senses than Seth's devious remarks.

"I call bullshit. Plus, you promised me a fantastic burger. I'm not leaving until I have one."

Seth came back and I ordered us two Rich burgers and some drinks. Luckily he didn't impart any other means he came up with to shut me up. Edward was so not ready to hear about those. He did however tell us Jane was in the kitchen, and he'd rather not be there at the moment. Jane was Rich's girlfriend. Well, most of the time. It was complicated. I suspected that was how they liked it though.

"They're fighting again, huh?"

"No, the opposite thing," Seth claimed with a grimace.

"Even worse then. Sorry, Pinkie."

"It helps that I get to look at the most gorgeous man in the world." He gave Edward a wink.

Edward shifted uncomfortably in his seat. You would think that he was used to longing glances and – let's face it – blunt pickup lines of gay men. Seth snickered and left to get our order.

"Why do you call him Pinkie?"

"On my first day here he had the print of a hand on his butt, in pink. To this day, he won't tell me how it got there. So I decided to call him Pinkie until he tells me. I don't think he ever will though, but the name kind of stuck."

Edwards smiled at the story. I realized I didn't know that much about him, and I found myself wanting to know a lot.

"So now you met one of my friends and you even know his nickname. Tell me something about you."

"What do you want to know?"

"I want to know who Cartman's father is. But that is beside the point. Just kidding. Sorry, I will quit making jokes."

Edward raised his eyebrow as to say he doubted that last statement.

"Okay, I probably won't, but I can be serious; I'll prove it. Tell me where you grew up and how you went from the eight year old Superman lover to famous actor."

"Correction first. I'm still a Superman lover— and proud of it. I was born in Seattle. My dad was a heart surgeon there. He met my mom in the hospital actually; she's a physical therapist. They hit it off and got married pretty quickly. Then my mom gave birth to the biggest wonder of their lives," he said while proudly pointing at himself and making me laugh.

"We moved to San Francisco when I was four to live closer to my mother's sister, also known as Jasper's mother. His father left them when Jasper was really young and so my mother wanted to help out. My father got offered a position at a hospital in San Francisco, and I got to see more sun, so we were all pretty happy with the move. Growing up, I was really shy, especially around people I didn't know. My mom suggested that I take drama lessons in school. She said it would loosen me up, or something. It did, I think, but more importantly I learned that I loved to act. I mean, I still do. But nothing compares to that first time on stage when everybody is watching you and you get to be someone else. Someone completely different than yourself. After months of practicing, rehearsing lines and replaying every scene a hundred times, it finally all comes together on that stage —it's this feeling I can't describe. It's euphoric."

I was totally hypnotized by his story, his voice, and especially his eyes and the way they lit up when he was talking. The man had to be passionate. Wasn't enough that he was hot, talented, and willing to look like a fool.

"When I was 18, I played the leading role in a play at a local theatre. Coincidentally, there was a scout. He saw something in me, and that's how I got my first role. The fame came a few years later though. It required me getting sharp teeth and a very pale face."

"I have to say, you do look better without the pale face."

"You think?"

"I think. I also think that you have a good story, dude."

"You're calling me dude, seriously? That usually means that sex is off the table."

"How do you know that? Maybe the word 'dude' is like my aphrodisiac."

"You're a weird girl, Bella. But God help me, because I like it."

I had to smile at him.

"I have a good story huh?" He asked.

"Yes, it's nice. I like that your mom felt so protective over her sister that she wanted to be closer. And it's very nice to see you talking about acting. I can tell you're passionate about it because you talk with your whole body. It makes you… it's just nice to see."

We were interrupted by Seth bringing our burgers. He didn't have time to linger this time, thank God. There were some more customers than before, but because we were sitting in the back and Edward had his back to the rest of the restaurant, nobody was able to recognize him. We dove in to our burgers and fries, and apart from the occasional sound of approval we were too busy to talk. I seemed to have forgotten how hungry I actually was. When I was done, I leaned back, very satisfied.

"You were right; this burger was more than great. I'm glad you talked me into going here. I don't even care anymore if you were a drug dealer. Assuming that you aren't though, what about your story?" He looked at me for a moment. "You're not from here." It wasn't a question.

"No, I'm not. I'm Dutch. I moved here about a year and a half ago." I didn't really know what I should tell him, what I _wanted _to tell him.

"I came here to Chicago and found an ad from a girl who was looking for a roommate. I went to see the room, and Alice and I clicked immediately. She led me around town, introduced me to her friends. She made me feel at home. A few weeks after my arrival, I was sitting here, eating my burger, when Rich fired the waitress. I asked if he was looking for a new one. He looked me over, said 'yeah, you'll do', and now here I am."

"You came to the States to become a waitress then?"

"Well, you know me. I had plans, but they just disappeared."

"To the back of your mind?" He quoted the Black Keys right back at me. "Testing me, are you?"

"Had to be done. And for you information, you're still in the running towards becoming America's next top model!"

"What did you do back home before you came here?" Ah shit, he wasn't very easily distracted. That could become a problem.

"Okay, you want the whole sad story?" I sighed. "My mother died when I was 24. She had been sick for years." I saw the question in his eyes. "Cancer," I answered. "She was diagnosed when I was already studying. We were always close and I went home a lot. She was doing okay for a long time but we knew it was incurable in the end. She lived with being sick, even though it limited her every move sometimes. She was my hero. Still is, actually." I took a deep breath. Sometimes it was still hard to talk about it, especially when I really felt the words I was speaking.

"She started to get weaker and no kind of treatment could help prolong her life anymore. In the end, it still went so fast. You would think we were prepared after so many years. In a way we were, but it still came as a shock. Anyway, after she died we all tried to get on with our lives and the things we were supposed to do. My dad and my brother were successful. Me, not so much. I felt like I had to get away, you know? Go somewhere where I wasn't the poor girl that lost her mother. I wanted to start over. So I came here and discovered that when I told people the reason for it, they would still look at me with those eyes full of pity." I chuckled. I was so stupid, thinking that would change with replacing one continent for the other. Edward, however, wasn't looking at me with pity. There was something else in his eyes. Something that kept me talking.

"I realized that although I was right by her side through the whole process, I never dwelled on what would happen after she died. In a community center nearby, there was this bereavement support group. I participated in it; it helped me so much. I decided that instead of trying to deny that losing my mom was a very big part of my identity, I could use my experience. The support group was mainly focused on older people who lost their partners. So I started a bereavement group for young people and I'm kind of leading that right now as a volunteer, together with a psychologist. Although they actually tell me more, cause I'm less scary, ha!"

Edward was watching me intently. Still no pity though. I told him more than I was planning on, way more. I hadn't even told most of my friends about the support group. Only Alice, Seth, and my dad knew. What was it about Edward that made me open up? I bet it was those damn green eyes.

"Bella, I…," he was looking for words. He looked at me again and smiled. A real genuine smile. It made him even more beautiful than he already was.

"I'm kind of in awe of you. I'm so sorry you had to lose your mom like that and so young. I can tell it was very hard and still is. But you're sitting here, telling me all this with such sincerity and such strength. You blow me away, really. Your mom would have been proud of the woman sitting across from me."

He was going to make me cry. Now I hadn't read 'How to date someone famous', or even just 'How to date someone', but I'd bet that crying on the first date wasn't the way to go. Hell, I thought I remembered Kate Hudson crying a lot in that movie where she was supposed to lose the guy.

"Edward, remember how I reacted to you giving me compliments earlier? Combine that with being sweet, and I have no idea what to do with myself anymore. Thank you, really. But please stop being nice now." I knew he could see the tears in my eyes.

"You have a pimple on your chin."

What?

"I do?" I was trying to reach into my purse even though it was pointless as I didn't keep a small mirror in there. I should really start to get more organized with stuff like that.

"No, but it was the first thing that came to my mind to distract you."

It was a little alarming that he could distract me so easily while I couldn't get him to focus on another topic when I tried.

"Good job, mister."

"I still think you're a strong person though."

"Edward…"

"And sincere, which is a novelty in my world."

"Seriously, did you not hear me just a minute ago?"

"You're also still sexy," he said, totally ignoring my request. How nice.

"And beautiful." He was grinning widely now.

"Okay, I'm getting the check. Pinkie!"

"You're totally right, we should go. As much fun as it is to watch you blush, we don't want to miss the first song."

Seth came up to our table. "You rang, milady?"

"Yes. Can Edward pay, please?" I asked him. Edward looked at me and I raised my eyebrow, daring him to ask otherwise.

"He can. I should tell you guys we only take payment in kind tonight. Hope that's not going to be a problem. I'm sure we can find a very satisfying way of settling your bill, don't you agree Edward?" Seth said while flashing his eyelashes.

"If by satisfying, you mean that I will sign your apron, then yes, we will find a way."

"Oh honey, I'd let you sign a lot more than –"

"Okaaaaay, that's enough out of you, Pinkie," I interrupted, not wanting to hear all the body parts Seth was dreaming of getting signed. "I desperately want to go to the Black Keys concert tonight and you and your sneaky plans are not going to stop me."

Seth took Edward's card and we stood up to leave. Edward was back to his Jamaican alter ego. We should get him a joint to complete the look. It really was a shame that I never explored a career of drug dealing.

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><p><strong>So… you like? Next chapter is almost finished. Want to read it?<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**Date I. **

**Part II .**

**Beta'd by Trillby97 and dreamergirl87 of PTB.**

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><p><em>I can't get to sleep<br>__I think about the implications  
><em>_Of diving in too deep  
><em>_And possibly the complications_

_Especially at night_  
><em>I worry over situations<em>  
><em>I know I'll be alright<em>  
><em>Perhaps it's just imagination<em>

_Colin Hay – Overkill_

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><p><strong>Chapter Four<strong>

Riley was waiting outside for us. While he drove us to the concert theatre, we discussed getting dessert before the concert. I thought that was ridiculous since the Black Keys were way more important than ice cream. Edward, who was the first to mention not wanting to miss the first song, was very whiny when it came to dessert, it appeared. Needless to say, I won the argument and we arrived at the venue ten minutes later.

I was excited. I was hyped. I was full of anticipation. I was also very tiny —compared to all the people I ever stood behind during a concert. That's why when Edward led me to the VIP balcony I squealed out of sheer happiness. Now, I wasn't proud of the squealing, but it couldn't be controlled.

Edward laughed at my enthusiasm, but I didn't mind. I grabbed his hand and led him to the front of the balcony. Perfect view. My whole body was sizzling with that thrill you feel right before your favorite band takes the stage. At that moment, the supporting band was wrapping up their last song. A waiter came by with a tray and Edward gave me a beer before taking one himself without letting go of my hand. I didn't change it, convincing myself that is was good for balance. I tapped my bottle of beer to his and said, "To a great night, cheers!"

"To the _continuation_ of a great night, Bella. Cheers!" He looked me straight in the eye and took a sip. I couldn't look away while doing the same. His eyes had some kind of hypnotizing effect on me. I bet he took a course for that.

The lights went out, and then I had to let go of his hand to clap my own together. The band came on, and as soon as the first chords were played, I let myself get immersed in the music. It was always easy for me to block everyone and everything out when there was music playing, especially live music. I could feel the bass pierce through my body, hearing the notes play melodies that transformed to beautiful images in my head. Still, I was aware of Edward's presence next to me. His hand sometimes touching mine, our shoulders lightly bumping in to each other. The look in his eyes when I caught him watching me, the blinding smile he returned when I smiled at him. We were enjoying this together, I could feel it everywhere, and it felt amazing. All too soon though, they were wrapping it up with a last song. My favorite to be exact. It made me wear this stupid smile and hold my hands close to my heart. It was my version of swooning, really. I felt Edward move beside me and before I knew it his arms wrapped around my shoulders and neck from behind. I grasped one of his hands with my own.

"It's mind-blowing, isn't it?" He whispered in my ear.

I couldn't even talk. Just nodded, knowing he could feel my movements. He was that close. So close. I didn't think the moment could be more perfect, but he proved me wrong by pressing his lips, ever so lightly, right underneath my ear. I thought I was going to combust. What was he doing to me? No, better question: what was I letting him to do me? I knew this was dangerous territory but I couldn't find it in me to move away from him. I really, really, didn't want to. So I stayed right where I was, with his arms around me holding me close. The show was over, people were clapping, cheering, whistling. We stood still though, locked up in our own little bubble. Until the lights went on in the room, and in my head. Carefully, I freed myself from his grip and turned around without really facing him.

"Should we go? Riley is probably waiting for us." I looked up at him a little, trying to let him see that nothing was wrong, everything was normal, and that I just wanted to go home. Instead, everything was wrong and nothing was normal. My reflex had always been to run away at moments such as these. Or, in this case, apparently, run to Riley. Edward was gazing at me with an intense look in his eyes as if I were a painting he was studying. I couldn't tell if he found what he was looking for when he spoke a soft "okay", and we went outside. I was kind of bummed that I let my usual high from an amazing concert like this get ruined by my never-ending tendency to panic when someone, anyone, got as close as Edward did tonight. And I don't just mean physical. I wasn't one of those girls that had no idea what she was doing. I knew exactly what I did by distancing myself from him. Being alone was all that I knew. It was safe, it was comfortable to a certain degree, and I didn't have to be afraid of the hurt someone else could cause me. Although it never really was a conscious decision, I was aware of my behavior and its consequences: Living life as an old spinster with a bunch of cats. The really sad part was that I hated cats.

Anyway, we started to walk outside in silence, both of us forgetting Edward's disguise. Well, that was a mistake. The first flash of a camera had me thinking that it was lightning, but when it was accompanied by yelling, I figured out pretty quickly what was happening. I looked at Edward who didn't look surprised at all. He was used to this after all. I wasn't though, so I took a step away from him. Didn't want any pictures of us together appearing online one hour later with a bitchy comment from Perez underneath it. A girl asked Edward for an autograph. He stopped and took the pen she offered.

"I'll just wait in the car, okay?" I told him, and without waiting for an answer I turned and walked towards the parking lot.

Riley was standing outside his car eating a… was he seriously trying to eat a pineapple? In a parking lot? I stood still, watching how he was trying to bite through the skin.

"He's even weirder than I thought." I hadn't even noticed Edward was standing beside me again.

"I know, right?" I started walking again and got in the car while Riley packed up his pineapple. Edward took his seat next to me and I explained to Riley where I lived. It was the end of the date I won. Time to go home.

"Listen, Bella, I'm sorry if it bothered you to stop and give an autograph. I found out a while ago that it's actually easier to hand out some autographs. Makes people behave somewhat nice. I just —don't want you to feel uncomfortable or left out or anything." He looked at me as if he was afraid of my reaction. God, what was I doing to him? I looked him right in the eye, so he knew I was being honest about what I was going to say.

"Edward, I promise you it's okay. I just didn't feel like getting in the pictures. That's why I walked ahead. I get that you're famous, and that people want things of you like getting autographs. It's fine, really."

"Then why are you being so… silent? You've been talking all night, and although most of it was random and incomprehensive, I kind of liked it," he said with a wink. He was trying to lighten up the mood. My mood.

"It's nothing. I guess I'm still impressed by the concert. It was beyond amazing. Thank you for bringing me here. I know it wasn't part of my official prize," I grinned at him, helping him light this mood.

"You're very welcome, Bella. I must say that it was thoroughly unexpected, but I had a great time tonight. Even if you exposed me to gay friends with aggressive conquest tactics and made me look like a Jamaican smoker."

He made me laugh, and I had to adore him for that. Normally when my run away-reflex had kicked in, the only feeling I was capable of was an uncomfortable one. Instead, this gorgeous boy with his brown-reddish hair and green eyes made me laugh. Was I doing the right thing? Of course I was. He lived so far away and had such a different life that he might as well have lived in another universe. In this case, it wouldn't be hard to create a distance. Distance created itself when he went back to his LA-lifestyle.

The car stopped. Riley had found the way faster than I thought was possible. Maybe pineapple did to Riley what spinach did to Popeye. Edward got out, and so did I. We stood on the sidewalk of my apartment building.

Aaaaand, cue the awkwardness.

I looked up at our windows. Alice was probably still up waiting for me. I looked at Edward. This was it; I was never going to see him again. Might as well at least enjoy those green eyes for a little longer.

"This is me. So… thanks again, Edward. I won't ever forget you gave me a free ticket to a Keys concert, and – even better – that you got me a VIP spot, too. I definitely owe you one. So if you ever need something, like borrow sugar, or ditch a dead body, let me know. Not that you would ever need to get rid of a body, it's more like a figure of speech 'cause I don't really think you wo—".

That was as far as I got before his lips interrupted me. And I don't mean by moving to form words. They were pressed against my own, firmly but without moving. He pulled back before I could even comprehend what was happening. My eyes were wide-open. He looked at me, and all I saw was bright green. He raised his hand to my cheek and guided my lips back to his. This time, my eyes fluttered closed. Edward Cullen was kissing me. And I was letting him kiss me. I had thought dinner was amazing. I had thought our conversation was amazing. I had thought the concert was amazing. Now I realized I didn't know amazing until this moment. Shit, he was good at this. I was pressing back against him, my lips slightly moving against his. At some point, he pulled back very slowly, sucking on my bottom lip a little before really letting go. It made me move towards him with my whole body.

"I knew it."

My eyes flew open at the sound of his voice. He was smirking at me. Probably because I looked like a 16-year old lovesick girl, standing with her eyes closed on the sidewalk after getting her first kiss. That was what it felt like anyway. Gone was that feeling. He was smirking, and it made me suspicious. I took a step back.

"You know nothing."

"Hell yes, I do. I've been thinking that kissing you would probably be the most effective way of shutting you up when you're rambling, and I was right." I was baffled. Nobody ever said that to me before.

"You're cute when I'm right."

"You've been thinking of ways to shut me up?" I huffed. Why was everybody thinking of that? First Seth, now Edward.

He moved closer to me, bending his head towards mine.

"I've been thinking of only _one way_ of shutting you up. All." He kissed my lips. "Night." Kiss. "Long." Kiss. He was looking at me rather proudly. I think he wanted to kiss me again. Pff, gorgeous guy thought he could just kiss me whenever he wanted. Right before his lips touched mine, I moved away from him. His eyes opened in annoyance. Served him right.

"You know you're trying to win me over by saying that you want me to shut up, right? Now I know you probably never have to put in some work when you want to pick up a girl. I bet you can just take your pick. But just a tip, mate, never tell them to shut up." He was starting to get a panicked look in his eyes, with just a hint of exasperation. I was teasing him; he had no idea. This was fun.

"I kiss you and you call me 'mate'? Well I may not know much about the work it takes to pick up a girl, as you put it, but this can't be a good sign, can it? Or is it just like 'dude' another of your aphrodisiacs?" Now he was the suspicious one.

"He he, I was just kidding with you. No worries, dude."

"You're weird, you know. Maybe even weirder than Riley."

I gasped. "You take that back right now, mister. Plus, it probably makes you weird as well for wanting to kiss a girl who is as weird as a guy that eats a pineapple with its skin."

He thought about that for a moment. "Your weirdness has not interfered with your ability to make sense."

"Still calling me weird."

"Still not seeing the problem with that."

"You might get to kiss me if you —".

His lips were on me before I could finish the sentence. He seriously needed to stop interrupting me like this. Wait, what was I saying? I would talk crazy nonsense all day long if he wanted to interrupt me like this. It was different than a few minutes ago. There was more urgency behind this kiss. He put his hands on my hip and pulled me closer to him. My hands automatically went to his upper arms. Just to hold myself steady. He was making my knees weak, you see. His lips parted and his tongue slipped out, carefully tasting my lips. Everything about him was making me dizzy. His lips against mine. The feeling of his tongue asking for more. The way he smelled – so manly, so good. I opened up for him and then I got to taste him as well. It was about all I could take. Jeez, this was only a kiss. What would happen if I took him upstairs, to bed? I wouldn't make it out alive, that was for sure. I moaned at the thought of it anyway, which made him groan in return.

After a few minutes in which my arms found their way around his neck, my hands were lost in his hair – oh, his hair – and his hands were making repeating patterns from my hips to my shoulders, I pulled back without stopping to touch him. He kissed his way from my lips to my ear, pecking each spot in between softly and precisely.

"Bella." He whispered in my ear. The things he was doing to me. Seriously. I needed to get a grip. I was supposed to break this off. To run away. To prevent any further complications. So I did what had to be done and freed myself from his embrace, however difficult it was.

"I should head inside. Thanks again, Edward. I'm glad your birthday is March 11th, and that Alice wanted to switch seats with me." I could tell he was kind of surprised that I was saying goodbye to him so abruptly. He was trying not to let it show though.

"Thank you for switching seats, and for being—well, I want to say normal, but we both know I don't mean that," he said with a smile. "I'm just happy you're not one of those crazy fan girls. I had the best night, Bella, thank you. So," he coughed a little, seemingly not really knowing how to say the thing he wanted to say, "can I get your number? If I need your help in disposing a corpse, I need to have your number, you see."

I smiled at him. Here he was, standing around, being all cute, asking me for my number.

But I was going to say no.

"I don't think that's such a good idea, Edward, I'm sorry. I think it's best if we just leave it like this: a really, really great night." There, I said it. I was actually a little proud of myself. Usually my tactic consisted of ignoring and being a complete bitch. I would call this an improvement. I was even looking at him and not at the ground. Which is why I saw his smile dropping. Shit, I did that.

"You don't want to see me again? Okay." I saw him thinking. "Wow, I guess I miscalculated this situation entirely. I thought there was something between us. Clearly I'm the only one thinking that." He laughed without any sign of humor shining through. "Can you tell me why though? I just —I just don't get it. When did it go wrong?"

I felt bad, really bad. He was right; there was something between us. I didn't want him to doubt that but at the same time… God, maybe I should have gone with being the ignoring bitch.

"Because it's so impossible for a girl _not_ to like you like that? Is that what you're saying?" Oh wait, there she was. Didn't really intend for her to be here. I had no idea why he was still standing here, making an effort, when I'd done everything in my power to scare him off.

He glared at me. "No, Bella, that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that I felt something between us, and I find it a little hard to believe that you didn't at all. The way you kissed me back just now said something else, for instance." The look of anger in his eyes was replaced by something else, hurt maybe? "I'm sorry if you think I'm being arrogant by assuming it was mutual. It's just that I'm normally not wrong about these things."

He was apologizing to _me_, the bitch?

_Well done, Bella, you'll get a sticker for that later. _

He wasn't looking at me anymore. I made this funny, nice, gorgeous man feel uncomfortable and hurt.

_Do something, you wench._

"Edward, please don't say you're sorry to me. You have nothing to be sorry for. I shouldn't have said that. Not only because it was mean, it also wasn't true. You're right, there is something between us; I feel it, too. I just can't do it. You live on the other side of this country, you're busy with all those big and fantastic actor jobs," I smiled at him, trying to make him feel a little lighter. "And for me…I don't think I have room for any type of dating at the moment. Most days I barely know how to handle myself, you know? I know that may sound weak, but it's the God to honest truth, I promise."

Phew, that went better than I expected. Wasn't even that hard to tell him the truth. _I should do that more often._

His eyes regarded me carefully for a moment. I was happy to see there was no more anger or hurt in there. I only saw the bright, beautiful green now. _Sigh._

"I guess I can respect that as long as I don't have to like it. I just want you to know this doesn't happen to me that often, and I certainly don't ask for a girl's number every day."

"Well, duh, they'll just give them to you."

"You know that's not what I mean. Listen, I get that you're not really fond of dating me right now."

Don't think I didn't catch that 'right now' at the end. Just saying.

"Just please don't let this be the end of our… friendship, for the lack of a better word," he continued. "I don't want to stop talking to you. You're too funny, and I'm too bored for the talking to stop," he said with a wink. "Please, Bella, give me your number anyway, and I promise I won't use it for booty calls or phone sex. Yet," he added under his breath but loud enough for me to hear. He smirked.

Well I couldn't really resist him when he was begging and smirking. So I held out my hand for his phone. I tried to put my number in there but his phone was too complicated. _Damn the inventor of touch screens._

He chuckled when I handed him his phone back and told him my number. He programmed it real quick with those long fingers of is. Magic fingers, I was sure of that. Said fingers wrapped around my hand and tugged at it a little.

"I hope to see you again, Bella, even if it's just as friends." That dizziness was resurfacing again. He was only touching my hand.

"Yes, friends," I said with a surprisingly rough voice. Weird. I cleared my throat. "Would be nice to see you again as well, Edward," I finished with a smile. I was smiling a lot around him. Seemed like I couldn't stop it.

"You know, some friends kiss each other."

"What kinds of friends are those?"

"Friends who are really fond of each other's lips. What? Stop looking at me like I'm making stuff up. This is an honest observation; I saw it in some movies."

"Did those movies have the words 'tits', 'hump', or 'ass' in their titles?"

"I don't see how that's relevant to the point I'm making."

He smiled. I smiled. _Someone, stop this smiling_. I was making myself a little nauseous.

"We don't have to decide right now if we're that kind of friends. I have your number. We have hours and hours to talk about it. I'll be sure to call you, soon."

"Okay, then I won't be saying farewell, but just talk to you soon, Edward."

He still wasn't letting go of my hand. In fact, he tugged at it again, and I moved closer to him. Completely willingly.

"Can we start our friendship in a minute, though?"

"Why?"

"'Cause I need to do one more thing."

He kissed me again. I wasn't protesting. This could very well be our last kiss. I was going to enjoy our non-friendship for just this minute. Our lips were moving against each other, slowly but surely, finding a rhythm together. He ended the kiss with two little pecks on my lips, and rested his forehead against mine.

"Talk to you soon, Bella," he whispered, and I could feel his warm breath on my face. Then he started walking backwards to the car, holding my hand until the distance was preventing us from touching. He smiled at me one more time. When he smiled, it reached his eyes, turning the green so bright that it was blinding me. I raised my hand in some kind of wave. Don't know what the hell I was doing, with my hand as well as with the whole 'letting him ride away from me'-thing. He got in the car and drove away from me.

I turned and walked into the building. Climbing the stairs, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. Immediately, I took out my phone to look at the text I got. Or, texts.

**Riley just offered me a bite of his pineapple. I think he wants me dead. Might need your help in getting rid of a body sooner than I expected… X **

I grinned at his first text. He sent two more right after that, apparently.

**p.s. Thought it would be fair that you'd have my number as well. **

**p.p.s. I had a great night, friend ;)**

I was quick to type a reply.

**I made you a promise and I will keep it. Just hand me a shovel and I'll start digging. Thank you for tonight, friend. Sleep well and say hi to Riley for me. X **

I unlocked the door and stepped in to my apartment, still thinking about Edward's texts. And Edward's kisses. And his words. And —

"What are you smiling about, sistah?" Ah, Alice. She sounded surprised.

"What, like I don't usually smile?"

"Oh you do. But not like this. It's Edward, isn't it? This is so awesome, eeehhhhh!" She squealed. _My ears, my ears!_

"Tell. Me. Everything. Now," she all but demanded.

I sighed dramatically while letting myself fall on the couch next to her. "Al, he is soooooooo dreamy," I said with a giggle.

She frowned at me. "No, no. I'm serious, Bells. I want to know what he did to make you smile like that. It's really great to see you like this, you know."

She deserved to get the real story, so I was on the verge of telling her everything when I noticed I was still wearing his shirt. I sniffed at the collar and discovered that it still smelled like him a little.

"Isabella Swan, whose shirt is that you're wearing? Start talking, now," Alice demanded.

This was going to be a long night.

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><p><strong>Leave me a review, please! I'd love to know what you think :)<strong>


	5. Chapter 5

**Et voilà, le chapter five. Hope you'll like it!**

**Beta'd by PTB. Thank you, ladies!**

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><p><strong>Chapter Five<strong>

_Where was that damn skirt?_ I could have sworn I saw it just a minute ago.

"Alice! Have you seen my skirt somewhere? I have to go to work, like, now and I can't find it!" I yelled.

"You mean that ugly one with white and blue stripes?"

"You know damn well what my working clothes look like, Brandon!"

"It's in the fridge, Swan!"

Was she serious? I walked into the living room, wearing only pantyhose and the mandatory obligated – also striped – blouse. So very sexy. I opened the fridge and there was my skirt. I looked at with confusion; when did I put it in here?

"I know; it confuses me, too. Just when I thought you hit rock bottom – clothes wise – you go and put your skirt in the fridge. Guess you were in the middle of taking off your clothes last night after work when you decided you wanted to heat up that Chinese food. You know you can't think straight when there's food involved."

"You know me too well. We should go into couples therapy or something. It isn't normal that you can actually trace back my twisted thoughts."

"I think it's rather convenient."

I started to put on my skirt when my phone rang. I grabbed it out of my bra. It was Edward. Alice saw my panicked look right away.

"He's calling? Oh God, he's calling. Bella! He's calling!" she shouted ecstatically. She was jumping up and down, and then turning that into some sort of dance. I was just staring at the phone, seeing his name light up every other second. He was calling me. I mean, I kind of expected him to call since he kissed me three nights ago and all that. On the other hand, I did make him wear a Jamaican wig, talked to him about poop, released Seth on him and after all that asked him not to go on the date with me. Let's not forget about the rejection at the end of the night. Why on earth was he calling me? Insane man. Gorgeous, but insane.

Alice had stopped dancing. She glared at me while putting her hands on her hips.

"Pick up the phone, Swan."

"I can't pick up. No."

"Why not?"

"Because! My butt is freezing. And also, I'm late. I have to be on time for work, obviously," I said, rolling my eyes.

"You have been on time exactly twice this year, and one of those two times was only because you forgot to set the clock back. Pick. Up. The. Phone."

My eyes went from Alice back to the screen. His name was still there. He was persistent. Looking at my phone, I saw Alice's finger come closer. I saw her pushing the green button. I picked up the phone, apparently. "Talk to him," she mouthed.

"Hi, Edward."

"Hey, Bella. How are you? Is this a good time to call?"

"Yes I think so. Wait, no it isn't."

"No?"

"No."

"Is it a 'no it's not, 'cause I'd rather not talk to you,' or is it a 'no because there's a fire and I have to jump through the window onto one of those trampolines that's being held by firemen'?"

"Those are my options?"

"Can't think of any other reason."

"Then I choose option two. And after I jump, I have to go to work since my shift starts in twenty minutes."

"Okay, then I'll call you back later. Good plan?"

"Definitely. I work until nine today. So, we'll talk tonight?"

"Yes. Oh and do me a favor, Bella. Don't run off with any firemen."

"I would never date a man that knows how to handle a pole better than I do."

"Smart thinking. Have a good day, talk to you later."

"Yes, later. Bye, Edward." I pressed the red button. That went fine. I could totally make phone calls with him and not be awkward.

"That went surprisingly well; you didn't panic nor ramble," Alice observed. She didn't focus on me using the word 'pole', fortunately.

"Yes, yes, we're all very proud of little Bella not screwing up. She has to go to work now with a very cold ass. See you later, shorty!" I yelled while grabbing my purse and walking out the door.

"You'll always be a hot piece of ass to me!" she shouted as a goodbye.

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><p>My shift at Rich's took forever. I loved Seth, I really did. I suspected he knew this and therefore also knew he could torture me without risking our friendship. Asshole. Every time I entered the kitchen, he started singing "Love is in the air" while doing a dance. Worst part was that he got Rich and Sam, our other cook, to join him. It had something to do with shaking your ass. Anyway, that was why at one point I was trying to convince two customers not to eat anything. I really didn't want to go into the kitchen again and see Rich's bubbly butt coming right at me.<p>

"Okay, I know you said you really wanted a burger, but I'm telling you, we had some people earlier with food poisoning. I'm just trying to help you out here, guys." I put on my Bambi eyes, as Alice likes to call this look.

"Hey, Bella! Can I get a burger and a Coke please?" I heard Jake asking. I turned around and he was sitting at the counter. Jake was one of our regulars. He came in to have lunch a few times a week. From the first day I worked here, we had been getting along really well, bonding over our mutual love for _Scrubs_. Obviously he was chocolate bear with that never-waning tan he's got; I was totally vanilla.

"Hey! If he gets a burger, then I want one, too." The annoying customer directed his attention to Jake and yelled, "Yo, dude, how are the burgers here? Do they give you food poisoning?"

"Yeah," his buddy butted in then, too. "Did they ever make you throw up in weird yellow and green colors?"

My description of food poisoning might have been very detailed. Whatever.

Jake was looking thoroughly confused. "What? No, I never spit out any yellow or green stuff after eating here. What are you talking about? I've had burgers here like a zillion times. They're awesome. You should definitely try them."

"There goes your chance of winning the customer-of-the-month title, Jake!"

"There's no such thing. Bella, what is going on with you?"

"Can we just have a burger already?" the guys yelled behind me.

They were all looking at me as if I was crazy. _I swear to you, I'm not._

"Okay, fine. I'll go get three burgers, but if I die because of an overkill of too many shaking fat asses, you guys are to blame!" I yelled, kind of desperately. Maybe just a little crazy then.

* * *

><p>My shift went a little faster after that. It was getting busier, so I had no time to talk each and every customer out of getting food. The moments in between the fuss I spent talking with Jake and goofing around with him and Seth. At the end of the day, Seth even taught me how to do the dance. Apparently it was a lot more fun if you were a part of it. Cleaning up while shaking your ass was just better than… well, cleaning without shaking it.<p>

"I have to go," I told Seth right before our shifts ended.

"No way. I'm not doing the bathroom again today. You didn't do it once last week. You're not getting out of it again."

"I had valid reasons last week."

"Thinking you broke your ear is not a valid reason. I looked it up; you can't even break that thing. Which you knew of course, damn it. I'm too gullible."

"Or just dumb."

"Go clean that dirty bathroom."

"But, Seth," I said in my whining voice, "Edward is going to call me. I'm going to miss his call because of you. Then he won't ever call me again, and I'll die tragically alone, being allergic to cats and all that."

"You're not allergic; you just hate them. Wait—Edward is going to call you?"

"Yes." I smiled. "He called this morning actually, but I had to run to get here. He promised to call tonight, though."

"He called you, and you didn't think of telling me that sooner? My God, Bella, you're killing me with boring stories about fucking politics, while you could've been telling me this?"

"Hey, speculating about our possible future vice-president isn't boring."

"Yeah, yeah. Back to Edward."

"I'm scared, Seth! What if I say stupid things, or what if I don't know what to talk about?"

"You're going to say stupid stuff, Bella; you're you, so that's a certainty. But it's not a problem. I'm guessing he likes that about you. Some people think it makes you charming. I don't, by the way. But I do think it's insanely sexy you can burp the alphabet." He stuck his tongue out.

"I don't blame you; it's one of my more outstanding talents. Seriously, though, I'm going to screw up."

"No, you're not. You're fun to talk to, Bella. Hell, you're one of the best things about working here. You have nothing to worry about. He likes you. For God's sake, he's a movie star who can get any woman he wants to do the dirty stuff with him tonight. Instead, he's calling _you_. That means something. So stop worrying and start enjoying."

"That was really sweet. I don't know what to say. You normally only have to say really vile stuff."

"I have my moments."

"You really do. Thanks, Pinkie. Hug it out?"

He held out his arms to me and I snuggled in there. We were quiet for a moment.

"Boobs really don't do anything for me."

"Not even like this?" I pressed against him and started wiggling.

"Save some for your date tonight."

"Okay, I'm going then." I grabbed my jacket and purse and yelled a "see ya" towards the kitchen.

"Have fun! I want to hear everything tomorrow!"

"Will do. You have fun, too. Those bathrooms aren't going to clean themselves!"

When I ran out of the diner, I heard Seth cursing loudly.

* * *

><p>After a fast bike ride home, I put my bike in the shed and practically ran up the stairs. I was all hyped up and excited. Mostly though, I was scared shitless. Out of breath, I barged into our apartment. Alice was still at work. She was doing an internship with this upcoming fashion designer who was making her work insane hours. I always told her to start up her own business because the things she designed herself always stunned me. I should know since she used me as her mannequin countless times. She claimed it was about more than the artistic side and the internship was giving her much needed experience. I liked to remind her of her own words when she was pacing in our living room, eating ice cream and cursing Lara (no last name, cause she's that cool) in such colorful language. Alice, in turn, then liked to throw her spoon at me. The girl has no aim though, so I always made it out alive.<p>

I dropped my stuff in my room and started to undress, making my way into the bathroom for a much needed shower after my shift. While putting on my comfiest pajama pants, I was thinking that having a phone date was pretty perfect; not having to worry about how I looked was awesome. Not that it was a date of course. We were just friends. I could be friends with a movie star, no problemo. Speaking of my friend, my phone was buzzing and blinking. Trying to ignore any nerves that were flattering around in my belly and well, everywhere else, I took a deep breath and picked up.

"Hi!" _Shit, that was too high._

"Hey, is this a better time?"

"Yes, definitely. You even gave me time to shower, so it's all good." It's all good? _Really Bella?_

"Okay then. How are you?"

"I'm fine. You?"

"Me, too. I'm fine as well. Yeah, just, you know. Fine."

Suddenly I realized that I wasn't the only nervous one. Maybe he had to try and convince himself he could do this as well. Maybe we were both a little pathetically nervous. Weirdly, that thought made me feel a whole lot better. I could make him feel better about this, calm his nerves.

"Ha, you're nervous!" That probably didn't help.

"I am not."

"Yeah, right."

"Okay maybe a little. But so are you. That 'Hi' when you picked up? Come on, Bella, that was way too high."

"I know, I know. It's weird. We shouldn't be nervous. This is just two friends, talking, chatting, whatever. It's not that difficult."

"Exactly."

"Okay."

"Well, then."

"So."

"Right."

"Anyway."

"Uhm."

"Gosh."

"Indeed."

"Yeah." I was grinning stupidly. It was like a contest, and I wanted to win.

"Whatever."

"In any case…" I trailed off, from… nothing.

It was silent on the other side.

"You can't think of a good comeback for that one, huh?" I asked him.

"No, you got me. Shit."

"It's better if I win anyway. I get ugly when I lose."

"Is that so?"

"Definitely," I told him. "I like to pretend that I'm a good loser, but I'm really not."

"Oh God, you're not one of those women that starts to cry after she lost a game or something right?"

"No way. I start crying _during_ the game, so I can manipulate your tactics and then win."

"So you're a cheater."

"That's harsh. I wouldn't call it cheating. It's more like presenting you with a different strategy that very coincidentally also benefits me. It's actually helping instead of cheating, if you think about it."

"So selfish."

"That's me."

"So you like playing games, huh?" There was a hint of something else in his voice. Something not so innocent.

"Yes. Now get our mind out of the gutter, mister. I'm talking Risk, Pictionary, Monopoly, that kind of stuff."

"Oh man, I love that game. I am, like, the master of Monopoly. Next time, we're playing Monopoly and I'll show you how it's done."

"Oh, you're on. I only ever lost twice and one time was only because I was high on painkillers after getting my wisdom teeth pulled out."

"Already making up excuses. Just don't get all whiny and sad when you'll have to get mortgages on all your streets just to pay me."

"Don't you worry your pretty head over that. You'll never get even close to beating me. I'm a strategic mastermind. You don't stand a chance. I'm just worried whether your big movie star ego can take such a blow. What if your confidence is forever lost? How are you going to win an Oscar after that?"

"I don't know. But it's a risk I'm willing to take."

"Okay then. Next time."

"Next time; it's a date."

"Your definition of a date is losing to a girl?"

"Nope. It's having a good time, before crushing her soul by winning epically at a game of Monopoly."

I laughed. All nerves were gone.

"You must be very successful in the dating scene."

"Actually my attempts have been surprisingly fruitless."

"Is that so?"

"Yes. I'm even going on talk shows, handing out dates like prizes. That's just how desperate I've become," he said, referring to how we met.

"That is pretty desperate, yes."

"I know. Then, when they finally hook me up with a random person in the audience, the girl in question tries to convince me not to go on a date with her."

"Man, do you have bad luck."

"Nah. It turned out she's pretty cool. Except for her obsession with sex in a limo."

"You're never going to let that one go, are you?"

"Not until you show me, very explicitly, what sex in a limo should be like according to you." Sex in a limo with Edward; now there was a fantasy worth dreaming of.

"So, never."

"A guy can dream."

"A guy certainly can."

We were both silent after that. I guessed we were thinking the same thing. That is, if he was thinking about what would be the most favorable position in the back seat of a limo. Probably with me on his lap. But which way would I be facing? I could…— wait, stop. Dangerous territory. Especially with him still on the phone. _Friends, we're friends_, I reminded myself. I coughed a little.

"Change of topic?" he asked.

"Yes," I said, while nodding. "Tell me about your day. What did you do?"

And then he told me about the movie he was filming at that moment. It was another romantic comedy with another beautiful woman as his costar. One that was completely driving him crazy by the sounds of it. And although I got the feeling that he was kind of looking for another genre to film, I laughed my ass off when he told me about the pranks he pulled on Jessica Stanley, the evil costar. Apparently she had some crazy diva tendencies and he and another costar, Embry or something, convinced her to write an autobiography after they got tired of hearing her life story for the umpteenth time. They actually hired a fake writer to help her with the writing and to 'interview' her when they were on set. That day, she found out that the guy she told all of her embarrassing childhood stories to actually cleaned the dishes in the cafeteria. She didn't take it well.

"You're mean," I told him when I could breathe again after he told me how she followed him screaming across the set, wearing only a Hello Kitty bathrobe and a green facial mask and scaring the shit out of him.

"Well, let this be a warning to you. This is what you'll get when you demand that I brush my teeth twice every time before doing a scene because 'your face cannot tolerate anything but minty fresh air coming its way,'" he quoted in a high and annoying voice. "She's freaking paranoid, too. She once asked Embry to taste her soup before eating it, because she thought the chef was trying to kill her out of jealousy of her beauty."

"Wow. That is crazy. She makes me feel sane."

"Next to her, you're perfectly normal, I swear."

"Oh, stop the sweet talking."

He laughed. "So, what did you do today? Hope no one looking like Hello Kitty threw up over her chased you around."

"No, but they did throw their butts in my face." I proceeded to tell him about my day, trying to describe the dance, with which he had problems visualizing so he made me promise to show him the next time. I suspected he just wanted to see me shake my ass. Couldn't blame the guy. I told him about riding my bike, which led to a very heated argument when he found out I don't wear a fluorescent jacket. I told him he was crazy if he thought I would not only wear a helmet – which I do – but also an ugly yellow vest. I might be a fool; it doesn't mean I want to look like one. It was kind of sweet that he was worried though. But my convincing techniques were pretty good and soon we were on a different topic. It was weird how comfortable it was to talk to him after our initial hesitation. After a while, when he was in the middle of telling me to buy the newest album of The National, I heard Alice storming in and swearing loudly. Uh oh, not a good day.

"Did you just turn on the TV?" Edward asked me.

"No, that's Alice. She just came home. She doesn't sound too happy. Her job makes her miserable sometimes. I should go talk to her, I guess. What time is it anyway?" I asked him. I was pretty comfortable, lying on my bed and checking the time would've meant that I had to get up. I was lazy, sue me. I heard Edward shuffling around.

"Wow. It's after ten here, which means it's past midnight where you are."

"Really? Then I should go. Can't really sleep in tomorrow and it would earn me some roommate points if I give Alice some ice cream and let her rant for a while."

"You go do that. I have to get up at 5:30 for this scene we're supposed to be shooting outside at dawn, so it would be a good idea to go to sleep a little early."

I found that I didn't really want to stop talking to him. While I didn't want to do the whole 'No, you hang up' thing, I did want to be sincere. "You know, this whole being friends thing isn't so bad. I actually enjoyed myself tonight."

"I hope you didn't strain anything with all that enthusiasm."

"Sorry, I'm as good at giving compliments as I am in receiving them. Let me try again: thank you for calling, Edward, I like talking to you."

"Good. That's… —yeah, good." I could tell he suspected me to make a lame joke instead of being serious. I loved that I could make him uncomfortable, that I had that effect on him.

"I like talking to you too, Bella," he said when he recovered from the shock of me being serious and sincere. I'll admit that it doesn't happen too often. "We will talk soon again, okay?

"Definitely. Buenas noches, señor," I said in my best Spanish.

"Sogni d'oro, Bella."

"And he speaks Italian." I sighed wistfully. "As if you didn't have enough going for you."

"Actually that, a lot of curse words, and telling you to take a right is all I can say, but it's good to know what gets you going. I'll be sure to brush up on my Italian."

"Please don't. You really don't need any more ammunition against me."

"I think I do. Good night, Bella. I'll talk to you soon."

"Bye," I said, and then I turned my phone off — just to resist the urge to text him. I stayed on my bed for a few more moments to take in the fact that I just spent hours on the phone with a great, funny, interesting, talented and extremely gorgeous guy. Who was my friend. Friend. _Friend._ I suddenly didn't like that word anymore. Not when it was Edward who was the friend we were talking about. I pushed that thought away and got up, ready to listen to my other friend – my best friend – in the next room.

Alice was pacing and muttering while making rude gestures with her hands. I couldn't really understand what she was saying, but I caught certain words. Someone was a bitch and something about being as dumb as "the blond one from _Mean Girls_". There were a lot of technical fashion words in between that I didn't get. Since that one time I asked her what a blazer was, I was kind of scared to ask Alice any kind of fashion related questions, so every time the topic popped up, I nodded like I understood or I ignored the tricky words. When she saw me, she let out a frustrate groan. I tend to evoke that reaction with people.

"Why, Bella? Why?" Alice yelled. I had no idea what she meant. Could be anything. Why are some people stupid? Why is the sky blue?

"I don't know. But maybe our friends Ben and Jerry have some answers."

"No. No calories. That'll just make me fat and that's exactly what she wants." The idea of a fat Alice is as crazy as it is laughable. I don't think she would gain weight if she tried. But I knew better than to argue with her at moments like these. There are two ways of handling this situation. One is to let her rant and curse, before agreeing with her wholeheartedly. I was going with option number two.

"I just talked to Edward for almost three hours." Divert her attention.

In one second her expression went from annoyance and anger to surprise and curiosity. My mission succeeded.

"You did? Bellaaaaa, that is so great! So it wasn't awkward? What did you talk about? Was he sweet? Did you tell him you wanted to kiss him a little more instead of being friends, like I told you to tell him? Oh my God, did you have phone sex? You did, didn't you? You better have done that in your room. Did you, Bella? Or did you do it in here, on the couch? Or on the kitchen table? Gross, Bella, we eat here, seriously." She was talking in a high-pitch voice like she does when she gets excited or worked up.

"Why would I be sitting on the kitchen table when having phone sex?"

"I don't know why one would ever sit on the kitchen table —yet you do it all the time."

That was true. I liked sitting there; I could see the whole room from a great point of view from that spot.

"I wasn't sitting there, I swear. I mean, we didn't have phone sex at all. We talked about our day and playing Monopoly, he told me about divas and I told him about shaking asses. You know, just normal stuff. It was nice."

She squeezed her eyes at me, regarding me for a moment and weighing my words. "Nice, huh?"

"Yes, nice. He's nice. I mean, he seems nice and he says nice things like that I should wear one of those fluorescent jackets and he talks a little Italian, which is nice. And it's just, yeah…"

"Nice?" She was mocking me.

"Shut up, you little worm."

"You like him."

"Yes. He's a nice person."

"No I mean, you _like_ like him. It's not like you like him like you like that guy from that hospital show you watch."

I was confused now. "You mean _Grey's Anatomy_?"

"Whatever. I mean that you really like him."

"Nope."

"Why not? He's so nice." She smirked. "And pretty hot, too."

"So? There are plenty of nice, hot guys around."

"Yet, you never talk to them for hours."

"I do, too."

"Name one."

"Seth."

"That doesn't count."

"Why not?"

"Because he's into nice, hot guys as well."

"That's discrimination."

"Whatever." She turned and walked towards the kitchen area while singing. "Bella likes Edward, Bella likes Edward."

"Whatever," I mimic.

She started making tea and I went to sit in one of the kitchen chairs. I could be normal and sit on a chair. I watched her move in our kitchen: putting the kettle on, getting two cups and sniffing different kinds of tea to find the one she was in the mood for. She moved so gracefully. It was one of the first things I noticed about her. It always astounded me. Even when she's in a hurry or when she's pissed off, there's always a kind of elegance in her moves. Yet another thing that differs us from each other. She lives for fashion, I wear holes in my clothes – not because that's in right now, but because I honestly don't care. She hates sports, I love to ride my bike everywhere and I can spend days watching tennis. She's the most honest person I know which sometimes makes her come across as harsh. For me it's much harder to tell the truth, also to myself. It's not that I lie, more that I always try to say things nicely, trying to appease people. I laugh my ass off over the lamest jokes when Alice just rolls her eyes. Her favorite color is pink and she always wears perfectly applied makeup. I hate pink and I only put on eyeliner when I don't want people won't see how tired I am after a night of little sleep. All these differences don't matter a thing though when it comes to our friendship. Or maybe they're the reason we work together. Because we do. We just get each other, and it has been that way from the very first moment. She would do anything for me and I would fly across the world if she wanted me to, no questions asked.

She handed me a cup of tea.

"Okay, I will drop it. Because I know if I keep teasing you now, you're going to do the opposite of what you should be doing. I'm just going to tell you to try not to think about it too much. Don't try to figure it out, just let it happen. Keep talking to him, enjoy yourself and have some fun."

I smiled. I was thankful that she wasn't going on about it. And she was right, I should try not to mull it over too much in my head. Just let it happen. That was going to be my new mantra.

"And try some phone sex. It can be really good," she grinned. Another difference between us; Alice dated. A lot.

"So much for letting it go, huh?"

"Yeah, yeah. Can I tell you about that crazy bitch Lara now?"

I nodded and she fired off.

* * *

><p><strong>I'll be forever grateful if you leave a review and let me know what you think :)<strong>


	6. Chapter 6

**So… This took a while. I'll spare you some lame excuses (because I don't have any). **

**Many thanks to Itsange and ans StoryPainter from PTB for fixing my mistakes and teaching me about commas. It's definitely not their fault if I'm still doing it wrong.**

**A short history lesson for the ones who need it (like me): Bella won a date. Edward took her out. They ate, laughed, kissed. There was a first phone call and lots of nerves. Now they can't seem to stop calling each other anymore…**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Six<strong>

"I admit it, you were right." Finally, he saw the light.

"I get that a lot," I told him.

"Probably after you tortured people so much into saying you're right, just so they can get rid of you."

"Is that the reason you're saying I'm right?"

He sighed. "No, you're actually right. Are you happy now?"

"Extremely so. Just learn from this okay? Next time I tell you do try something because it's awesome, don't doubt my intelligence and taste, and do it immediately."

"Well it sounded gross. But yes, potato chips do taste better with garlic sauce than without. And since you're going on about it for the last two weeks, can we drop it now?"

"Everything is better with garlic."

"Please don't start with this again, Bella," he groaned, but I could tell he wasn't actually annoyed.

"I'm just saying. It's true. And I'm doing you a favor by sharing my beliefs with you. What if nobody ever told you this, and you go through life without ever trying shrimps dipped in garlic, or strawberries with some self-made garlic sauce. It would just be selfish to keep this valuable knowledge to myself."

"I just don't get why I have to try your weird preferences when it comes to food, but you refuse to try a peanut butter sandwich with tomatoes and sambal."

I huffed. _Like I was going to try that, yeah right._

* * *

><p>"So, then, Seth actually convinced him that we had a strip club in the back, and if he would just come along for one second, Seth would show him the pole we had there for the strippers to dance around. Our lovely customer just didn't know what kind of pole he was going to see. Anyway, they went to the back where we have, like, this small office Rich likes to pretend he uses for administration stuff, but God knows he has never filled in a form unless it was to get free stuff. They were gone for, like, three seconds before the guy started shouting and screaming. He ran out of there toward the door while Seth yelled, "It can do some tricks, too. Let me show you!", I'm telling you, it was so funny. Especially because the guy was so thoroughly confused that he tripped over his own feet on his way to the exit, and then screamed like a little girl when Seth, so very helpfully, tried to pick him up off the floor."<p>

My hilarious story was met with silence.

"Okay, what's up with you?"

"Why, what do you mean?" he asked me, completely distracted.

"You're being awfully quiet, and I was giving you one of my better descriptions of Seth's desperate pick-up attempts."

"No, no, I heard you. You're working in a strip club now, and Seth is doing some tricks."

"Right. Tell me."

"Tell you what?"

"Tell me what's bothering you." Did I really have to explain this into detail?

"Nothing is bothering me." He sounded a little exasperated.

"Okay then. Tell me something else, something fun."

"Why?"

"'Cause I'm your friend. And friends tell each other fun and amusing stories in order to make their conversation rich with the sounds of laughter and merriment," I said in a weird voice.

"I don't have any stories."

"That's okay, I'll wait. I'm a very patient person." I really wasn't.

He was silent. I started humming a song. He said nothing. I whistled. Still no words. I started another song; I was one hell of a singer. When he recognized what I was singing, I heard him laughing a little.

"Are you singing that you will be waiting for me?"

"Wherever you go, whatever you do."

"You'll be waiting, huh?"

"For you to tell me what's up, yes."

"It really is a terrible song, you know," he told me, and I could hear a little smile in his voice. It made me happier than it should, probably.

"Okay. I had a meeting with my agent today, and he wants me to do another comedy movie – just like the one I'm filming now. It's supposed to be a big blockbuster. They're getting all the hot and popular movie stars of the moment to play in it." He said that last bit in such a fake voice that I knew he was quoting his agent. Edward would never call himself hot. Although he was, very. "I'd be playing one of the leads, and it's this romantic story, or whatever. It's just —I don't know. I should be happy, right? I mean, they asked for me, I don't have to audition. All I have to do is say yes, memorize some crappy lines, stand in the rain, kiss another pretty girl and cash a few million. Instead, I'm being ungrateful. Because I had a different idea of what kind of movie would be next. Like I always do. And like always, I'll go with what Marcus wants me to do, so I don't actually have to try something different and be scared shitless of the very plausible possibility that I'll fail. Hard."

"What is this something different that you'd want to do?"

"I don't know, really." He paused. "Actually, I do know. Jasper, you know, my cousin, he wrote a story about a guy trying to make it in the music business, and he has to overcome these obstacles – the bad, destructing relationship with his father being the biggest one. It may not sound like a big thing or whatever, but he's a good writer. It's very strong dialogues. And I know that maybe I'm biased since he's family, but I really think that it could be something. If we find the right guy to play the father role — and we need to get it written into a real screenplay. And, yeah, I also know it's not a big production or anything, but —"

"Edward," I interrupted. "You don't have to convince me."

"No?"

"To be honest, people with constipation problems sound more enthusiastic about finally going to the bathroom than you do about the movie you're filming. This is actually the first time since our date that I hear your love for acting again. Don't waste that. Go for your something different. You can always go back to romantic comedy fluff in the future. I bet you know plenty people in the business – or whatever you crazy movie kids are calling it – to help you with this. Try it. Yes, maybe it'll fail, and maybe the movie will suck. Or people will question your talent, or the writing may not be good at all —"

"Are you going somewhere with this?" he interrupted me.

"Look at it this way: if you never try it and keep playing the parts people lay out for you, isn't that also a kind of failing? And wouldn't you rather fail on your own terms?"

He was silent, and I was afraid I said something wrong. It was just that I believed he could be truly great at doing something different.

"You're right. You really are."

"Hey, don't sound so surprised!"

"Sorry, but sometimes between all the weird stuff you say, I forget that you're actually pretty smart."

"Don't you forget it. You know I don't actually believe you'll fail, right?"

"Yes, but that only increases the pressure. So, don't say that too often."

"Okay, your movie is going to be worse than that time when I had to sit through a three-hour play about worms when Alice thought she had a talent for acting."

"About worms?"

"Yes, and they wore skin colored suits. It was awful."

"Okay, my movie will be just a little better than that one."

"That is a very admirable goal to start with."

"Isn't it?" I heard him sigh. "I should go to sleep."

"Early filming?"

"The earliest, yes. 5am."

"I would feel sorry for you then, but I'll be asleep."

"You're mean."

"Whatever you say, as longs as you'll mention me in your acceptance speech."

"Don't start the Oscar talk with me now. No pressure, remember?"

"Who said anything about Oscars? I was referring to the Razzies. I want to hear my name when you're up there."

"You got it. I'll just talk about that girl I'll never listen to again."

"Whatever, razzie."

* * *

><p>"Where are you?"<p>

"I'm in bed."

"Shit, really?"

"Yes, I'm in bed, just like half the times we talk."

"I know. It's just —"

"What?"

"Nothing, it was a long day. And I'd rather be lying next to you and talking to you than just calling."

I always got a little uncomfortable when he said stuff like that. He had been really good with the whole friendship thing, not mentioning any kisses or whatever. I was thinking about those kisses a lot more than I would've liked to admit and not only when we were talking. Also when I saw other people kiss, or when I saw a pineapple, or any other kind of fruit, really. Or when I saw a guy that looked like him, and it didn't help that I actually saw _him_ a lot of the time: on the front of magazines, in a TV commercial, once even on a bus. But other than that, I almost never thought about that kiss. Or his lips. Or his hands. Or —getting off track here.

"Yeah. But you can't. 'Cause the other side is already taken."

"By who?"

"My alter ego." What was I saying?

"You have an alter ego?" He didn't sound like he believed me even for a bit.

"Hey, man, Beyonce's got one. That means I can have one."

"Sure, sure. So what's her name?"

"Princess Marie." He didn't know my middle name yet, did he?

"She's a princess, huh? Where's she from?"

And that's how we spent an hour talking about the very fictional – but very important – country of Cloverland. I told him about Marie's family members that were half men half seahorse, and then he proceeded to tell me about the cloverdog that he heard lived there for thousands of years. Apparently, they lay orange eggs and could fly with their super large ears. I dreamed that night about flying with Edward while we were sitting on an orange dog. It was awesome.

* * *

><p>"I feel sick."<p>

"I know, baby, you told me. I wish I could do something for you." Calling me baby helped a lot. I didn't tell him that.

"I still can't believe you drank the pickle juice," he stated, not very helpfully.

"It was a dare." My voice was muffled by a pillow. I should definitely stop taking stupid bets against Seth. It did help knowing he was sick, too.

"Next time Seth dares you to do anything, call me, and I'll make the decision for you, okay?"

"Yes." I was too tired and weak to argue.

"Want me to read to you again?" He was reading Jasper's story to me over the phone. It was literally breathtaking. I was, of course, completely objective. Listening to Edward's voice had become some kind of ultimate relaxation for me. I was trying to ignore just how much better he made me feel by just talking.

* * *

><p>"I think you should go with pizza."<p>

"Maybe you're right. It's a tough call though."

"But you can never go wrong with pizza. What is that people say again? Even the worst pizza is better than sex. No wait, that's not it…"

"If that's true, then I think you're doing it wrong."

"Are you dissing my skills in the bedroom?"

"I can't really, since I never experienced them. We can change that if you're interested. I'd fly out to Chicago tonight; just say the word."

"Word."

"Okay, I'm booking that flight."

"No, you're not."

"I am. I just gave my assistant instructions."

"Without words?"

"Hey, I'm very good at non-verbal communication. I'll show you later."

"I wish I had an assistant. I would make him serve the customers while I kicked back with a milkshake."

"Changing the subject, huh? Lame."

"Don't talk to me about lame. You're the one calling to ask if you should have pizza or fries for lunch. I'm sacrificing my break at work for you. Oh, wait now I remember! Pizza is the same as sex: even if it's bad, it's still good."

I heard him chewing on the other side, and it didn't even gross me out. I was picturing him sitting in a random chair on set, with his phone between his shoulder and ear, tearing off a slice of pizza. I wanted to be there, sitting next to him and eating pizza. This urge I had to be in the same room as him became more intense with every phone call. But that was normal, right? It was the same urge I sometimes had to go back home and see my friends there. Although this felt a little more pressing, but that was probably because we talked daily. At least once a day we spoke on the phone, mostly at night. This last week we called each other even more, just to tell or ask very random stuff. Like this morning when I called him to tell him that I got the wrong newspaper which meant I couldn't read my favorite comic. He thought it was very interesting and important, so who was I to withhold this kind of information from him?

"I feel lucky." He interrupted my thoughts.

"Why's that?"

"Getting great pizza and great sex in one day, I'd call that a pretty good day."

"I hope the girl you'll pick up later agrees with you."

I was met with silence. Shit, that was a joke. He didn't think I actually wanted him to… I mean, he didn't… There really shouldn't be anoth— Oh, God, I couldn't even think the words.

"You know I'm not seeing anybody right? I mean I know there's always stuff in tabloids, and I don't even read that shit anymore, but I can tell you that it's all bullshit. I would never — I mean I would tell you if… Not that it would be a big deal, cause we're friends, right?" He didn't sound too convinced.

"Yes we are. I know I was the one who said no to dating. I don't expect you to not date other people." _Yes, I do_. "You can do whatever you like." _No, you can't_. "Hell, you can even date that Jessica-chick." _Please don't_. I tried to laugh it off a little. This subject had to come up eventually; there was no way around it. I just wished it didn't have to happen with me sitting in the broom closet where we kept all our cleaning supplies. This conversation would be much more comfortable if I was sitting in a chair instead of on a bucket.

"I'm not, though. I just want you to know that."

"Okay." That wasn't enough; I had to say something more. "Thank you."

"Okay."

"And if it makes you feel any better, I don't read any kind of tabloid."

"Good, they're rubbish."

The door was suddenly pulled open, and out of shock I fell off the bucket I was using as my place for lounging during my lunch break.

"Ouch," I moaned. That hurt my elbow.

I heard two voices speaking at the same time.

"What are you doing in here?" That was Rich.

"Are you okay?!" And Edward.

In the meantime, I was trying to get back up.

"You know you're not supposed to be using your phone at work, Bella." Rich tried to sound strict. He always failed at that.

"Yesterday, you were texting Jane while burning two steaks," I reminded him.

"That was very different. She needed my advice on very urgent matters."

"What matters?" I knew they had probably been sending dirty texts.

"It was about a very big and important thing." He grinned. Eeww. Then he remembered he was boss man. "You know, it doesn't matter what it was about. I don't owe you any explanation." He turned to walk away, and I heard him muttering something about getting more obedient staff. He could never fire me; he loved me way too much.

"Bella, are you still there?"

"Yes, sorry. I should probably go back to work."

"Yes of course. Okay. Talk to you tonight?"

"Yeah sure. Bye Edward."

We didn't talk that night. He called, but I texted him that I was out with Alice. I wasn't lying; we went for drinks. The thought of Edward with another girl made me reach for alcohol. The thought of avoiding that scenario by dating him myself made my desperate need for alcohol even higher.

The next day we were back to our old phone habits. No more talking about other girls.

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><p>It was a Friday night. I just got off the phone with Edward. We had been talking for about five weeks now. It didn't sound that long, but I couldn't even imagine not knowing him anymore. Yes, we talked about crazy stuff like pizza and princesses, and I loved that. But he also told me everything about his new movie project with Jasper, about his friendship with Emmett and about why he was scared of spiders. I told him about my work at the community center which was progressing really well and about my dad and how I worried about him sometimes. It wasn't hard or difficult at all to talk to him, and we never ran out of things to say, even if we were only discussing which color was better – blue or green. At this point, it became kind of hard to deny that his calls were the highlights of my day. And I hated that; I didn't want my happiness to depend on some guy, especially a famous guy that could have thousands of women if he wanted. But he was also a famous guy that always made time for me in his busy schedule. I knew he wanted more, although I still couldn't actually believe that. He was giving me time to figure out what I wanted. I think it was becoming more clear every day what it was that I wanted. I just didn't know if I could let myself have it.<p>

Tonight, all of that didn't matter; I was going out. I was in my room, putting on a dress – that Alice made me wear – when I heard the doorbell ring. Seth was already in the living room, putting on some music to get us in the dancing mood. Alice was mixing drinks and I suspected Angela just arrived. She also volunteered at the center and we got along really well, so I invited her along for tonight. We were going to a club a friend of Alice had opened recently. I was looking forward to a night of drinking, dancing and having a good time with my friends. So I tugged on the bottom of the dress, hoping it would at least cover my ass a little more, and walked out into the living room. I was ready to have fun.

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><p><strong>I love garlic. Just thought I'd make that clear. Let me know ifhow/why you liked this chapter! **

**Up next: The hangover. **


	7. Chapter 7

**Remember what happened in previous chapter? Don't worry. It's okay. Bella doesn't even remember what happened last night. That's what alcohol can do to you. So don't drink, kids!**

**I will just shut up now. But not before thanking Shinrai and Jennrosee from PTB for telling me where to put those damn commas. You rock!**

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><p><strong>Chapter Seven<strong>

Getting up sucked. Getting up with a hangover was a mission impossible. Therefore, I was lying in bed, fully awake, contemplating how bad I really had to go to the bathroom. If I stayed in bed, what was the worst thing that could happen? Okay, yes, I might pee myself. Was that really so ba— _yes, yes it was._ I had to get up. Carefully putting myself in a sitting position, I wondered why the earth was spinning extra fast today.

Slowly, very slowly, I walked toward my bathroom. Sometimes I was so happy Alice and I both had our own. I was very careful not to look into the mirror knowing, that at moments like this, a look at myself would do nothing to make my nausea vanish. Using the toilet, deciding that I wasn't ready to shower, washing my face instead— everything took so much effort. But it wasn't until I entered the living room and smelled pancakes that I knew for sure: I was never drinking again. Or eating, for that matter.

Our living room was never a very tidy place. The mess I saw at that moment, however, was unknown to mankind. Or, you know, us. What the hell did we do last night? Didn't we go out? Why were there empty bottles everywhere? Why couldn't I remember? And why was I asking myself all these questions when questions only made me dizzier?

Seth was lying completely passed out on the couch. He would wake up soon, jump up and be completely awake and fresh. I knew this from past experiences. According to him, he "didn't do hangovers". I once told him he would totally do hangover if hangover had a dick. Seth agreed. Anyway. The excruciating smell came from the kitchen where Angela was happily humming while flipping pancakes. She turned around when she heard me enter.

"Good morning! How are you? Sleep well? I thought I'd make some breakfast. Want some pancakes?"

She was speaking all these words. Too many words. Was she crazy?

The look on my face probably told her everything she needed to know. She turned again and started whistling.

Mental, definitely.

I dropped my ass on the other couch and groaned. The door to Alice's room opened, and she looked even worse than I did. Holding her hand in front of her eyes, she said… something. I guess it was about the noise, because Angela stopped whistling. Thank God.

Alice lay down on the floor next to me.

"You're lying on a bottle," I said in a weird voice. My tongue felt like a chunk of leather.

"Shut up." Alive groaned.

A few minutes were spent in silence, interrupted by incoherent groaning from me, coughing from Alice and chewing from Angela. Okay, not so silent. I felt a little better though.

"Dude, I'm lying on a bottle."

"Told you."

"Why are there bottles?"

"Dunno," I told her.

"Because Bella wanted to play spin the bottle when we got home at 3 a.m. By playing spin the bottle she meant just spinning bottles around the room. There was no kissing involved, much to the disappointment of a weird neighbor Alice invited in."

"So that's the guy in my bed?" Alice asked.

Angela snorted. I tried to laugh but started choking instead.

"There's a guy in your bed?" I asked her in a weirder voice than usual.

"Yes. But don't judge me. He told me we didn't do anything."

"Oh, he told you? Well, then it must be true." Ah, sarcasm. I was definitely doing better.

"He pinky swore." Alice sounded convinced. Good for her.

Not too long after that, mystery neighbor came out of her room. Apparently his name was Eric, and he had surprisingly long hair. He left with a pancake in his hand, promising Alice he'd call her – even though she told him he really, really didn't have to. We woke Seth up by stuffing a pancake in his open mouth, which he didn't mind at all. After a heavy inner dialogue, I decided to eat something. Angela left to go see her boyfriend, and Alice's boss called her to ask – more like ordered – her to come into the office. On a Sunday. What a lousy job. That meant Seth and I were left to clean up while singing along with Take That.

"You know, you were talking a lot about a certain famous boy yesterday," Seth informed me when we were collecting bottles.

"Oh God, really?" I didn't know if I wanted to hear more.

"You were going on and on about green-eyed babies."

"No."

"Yep."

"Shit. I think I remember. Were we standing near the bar?"

"Yep."

"And you were ordering shots of tequila, saying I had to drink one shot for every green-eyed baby I wanted."

"You drank four shots," he said.

"That explains why I can't really remember anything that has to do with these bottles," I mused.

"Do you remember taking out your phone?" Seth asked calmly, as if this was just an arbitrary question. As if this couldn't potentially have a huge impact – and knowing me, it was going to have the impact of a volcanic eruption.

"I. Took. Out. What?" I asked in an eerily quiet voice.

Seth had the dignity to stop cleaning the table and look at me.

"What? Why are you looking at me like I'm in trouble? I didn't do anything!"

"You didn't do anything?! You didn't take my phone away? You didn't make sure I would text, or even worse, call Ed— a certain someone?"

"Hey! I was drinking those shots with you. You know how I get when I'm drunk. Fast dancing, slow thinking."

"What are you talking about? I've never heard you say that."

"Hey, I don't know. I'm just trying to talk my way out of this one. Listen, seriously, you didn't do anything weird. I think."

"Oh God, you think. You think. Which means, you don't know. Which means, I could've taken out my phone to contact him. I do tend to do that when I'm drunk. Let's see, what can I still remember? Think, think!" I was talking mostly to myself now, pressing my finger into my temples.

"Yeah, you do tend to do that. Remember when Alice threw that weird fashion party, and we thought the fruit juice didn't have any alcohol in it but it turned out it did, and you tried to borrow anyone's phone to call some old lover from back home and—"

"Let's not rehash those wonderful stories now, shall we?" I said with feigned politeness. "I need to fucking know if I called him!" _So long, politeness._

"Why not check your phone, dumbass?"

I looked at him and wondered why the hell I hadn't thought of that before.

"You are brilliant, Pinkie!"

"Do not call me that, Bella."

I wasn't listening anymore. Where was my phone? I started randomly picking things up and dropping them.

"Well, this helps the cleaning up process."

"Help me," I begged. So we started looking for my phone, which took exactly 28 seconds before Seth saw it lying on the table. Yes, I was that panicky — I didn't even look at the most obvious place.

I looked and there were no texts, no missed calls. That had to be a good sign. Right?

"Okay, okay. Let's see. Shit. I called him three times. Two times around 1 a.m. and then again at 3:30 a.m.. We had to have been home by then, I guess?"

"I think so, yeah."

"And I sent one text." I held my breath while Seth came to stand next to me.

**Hi eddie, we should have orange eggs liiike the dogs remembr. tehn we can sit on the eggs til the little babiesdogs get out. btw im dancing, and u? XOXOXO**

Seth laughed. Hard.

"I don't even know what that means, but I think this is your way of telling him you want his babies," he said and then proceeded to laugh.

I wasn't laughing. Edward never replied. He didn't text or call. He didn't do anything.

"He must think I'm crazy and hopeless and decided I wasn't worth his trouble anymore." Tears were prickling behind my eyelids. Hangovers made me emo, damn it.

Seth stopped laughing and hugged me from behind.

"Bella, he knows you're hopeless already, and he likes you because you're crazy. There's probably a good reason that he didn't answer yet. The man is a famous actor for god sakes. He could be on a plane to Tokyo or whatever. You're not supposed to turn your phone on during a flight, everyone knows that. You are worth his trouble and he is well aware of that as far as I can tell."

He was trying to cheer me up, and it worked a little. I knew he wasn't on a plane, though; he was in L.A. this whole week. I was sure of it. Why hadn't he called me back? I decided, however, that I was not going to be one of _those_ girls. He would call. And if he didn't, I would call him tonight. I would apologize, make a stupid joke. He would make fun of me and laugh. And all would be good again. It had to be. I didn't know exactly why, but it just had to be.

"Quit over thinking this and just wait a little. You'll hear from him. Now pick up that mop and sing about how you want me back for good."

We continued cleaning, and as we were singing along dutifully, taking turns with the mop as a microphone, I praised myself very lucky with friends like Seth.

After we watched three hours of 16-year-old knocked-up girls getting in trouble on MTV, Seth kicked himself out and went to the gym, because, well "it's where all the gays are on a Sunday afternoon." I took a long, hot shower, and finally felt a little human again. I went to the grocery store and bought fresh vegetables, determined to make a healthy meal for me and Alice when she got home. Veggie lasagna it was.

Standing in the kitchen, wearing my favorite black yoga pants and an old, blue tank top, I was cutting zucchini when the doorbell rang. Alice must have forgotten her keys.

"I'm coming, sweetheart," I yelled in a high-pitched voice, thinking I should be wearing that ugly apron we had because that would make this picture perfect.

I opened the door, and there stood my green-eyed wonder of a man.

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><p><strong>Yes, I know. This chapter is way too short. Next one is coming soon.<strong>

**Leave me a review — I love to hear what you think!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Thank you for your reviews and alerts! Keep them coming :)**

**But for now... Edward's here! No further comments. Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Chapter Eight<strong>

"Hi, honey," he said with a careful grin.

"You're not Alice," I started by saying the obvious.

"I see that the alcohol didn't destroy all your brain cells."

"Yes. I mean, no. I mean… I don't know what I mean. You are here. You're not in Tokyo."

"Why would I be in Tokyo?" he asked, raising one eyebrow. He had sexy eyebrows. Wait, can people have sexy eyebrows? I was definitely focusing on the wrong things here.

I didn't say anything, but held the door open for him and stepped aside. He walked in and then turned around when I closed the door. I took a breath before turning as well. Looking at him was difficult for some unknown reason.

"Hi." _Oh good start, Bella._

"Hi." He looked at me and smiled.

I couldn't yet comprehend that he was here, in my living room. This guy I had been talking to every day in the past month. The one I had spent all day thinking about, hoping he'd call or text just so I'd be sure we were okay. He made me pathetic that way. And now here he was and all I wanted to do was sort of climb him until I could hide my face in his hair. Which would be totally inappropriate. So instead I went with awkward and distant.

"So, how's the weather outside?"

He frowned.

"Seriously, that's what you're going with?" he asked me.

"Well I don't know what to say in situations like this, and it felt pretty cold outside to me, so I thought I'd start with that."

"Yes, it is cold outside. And what exact situations are you referring to?"

"Oh, you know, to those situations where the guy you accidentally dated once, talked to a thousand times and then drunkenly called and texted, shows up on your doorstep when you were actually thinking you would probably never hear from him again after blabbering something about orange eggs." At that point, I was out of breath.

"Would you be upset if you had never heard from me again?" He wore a serious expression on his face, so I didn't dare to make a joke.

I looked into his eyes when I said, "yes."

"Then I made the right decision." He apparently saw that was all the serious talk I could handle right now and started looking around our living room. That's when he spotted our magnificent wall art.

"Do not tell me that is a poster of Justin Bieber."

"Would that make you leave already?"

"You're not getting rid of me that easily. Although, this is pretty disturbing."

"I know it is. Alice put it up when she was trying to convince this Indian exchange student he was her brother. She never took it down after that, though. I suspect she secretly crushes on him a little."

"Why is he wearing eyeliner?"

"Because I think it makes him look even more biebelicious."

Edward looked as if I came from another planet which, honestly, could very well be true.

"Do you want to help me cook?" I asked him, convinced that if we had something to do, it would take my mind off the only question I wanted to ask: _why are you here?_

"You put your guests right to work. I like it. What are we making?"

"Lasagna. You can cut vegetables, and I can make the sauce."

We went to work, and I was surprised that it was just as easy as talking to him on the phone. We worked together as if we did it every day. He moved around in the kitchen, searching and finding a cutting board, and it felt like he had been there a million times before. I told him about the dancing and shaking we did the night before and my very recently invented game of bottles. He told me about a weird guy he sat next to during his flight to Chicago and the conversation he had with his mom about the movie he was going to do with Jasper. It was definite now.

"It was you, you know. You helped me clear my mind. So, thank you."

"I think you were going to do it, regardless. But, you're welcome."

I didn't know what else to say. Luckily an intense discussion on the appropriate amount of cheese on top of the lasagna diverted the attention. However, with our dinner in the oven, we needed something else to do. I offered to show him the rest of our apartment, which was basically, well, my bedroom. Yeah, I fell right into that one.

I was standing in my doorway, watching him while he was looking around my bedroom. It wasn't a very big room. My bed took up a huge part of it I had a small desk, which was stuffed with… things, and a book case filled with books on photography and some on psychology.

"Are you studying again?" he asked while his fingers glided over book covers.

"No. Well, I'm just reading that stuff, so I feel I have more than just my own experience to base my work for the support group on. And it's actually really interesting to read."

"You could take classes as well. Get a degree or something."

"Maybe. I don't know, I already have a degree. In public governance," I answered his questioning look. "It feels kind of —I don't know, useless to start another study. Like then I wouldn't have made any use of all those years at university. You know?"

I lied down on my bed; the fatigue from staying up late dancing and drinking was starting to catch up on me. Edward sat down beside me.

"Maybe not everything needs to have a specific use or goal. Maybe it's okay if you choose a different direction now. And hey, it's not like all that public governance knowledge is helping you serve drinks and food, right?" He said with a wink. "Bella, if you feel the work you're doing with kids at this center is something you're good at, and you believe studying would make you even better, you should just try it."

I moved to lie on my side, hands propped up beneath my cheek, and I looked at him. He was looking down at me. He told me the same things Alice and my dad had been telling me, more or less. But for the first time when it came to this topic, I answered with the truth.

"I'm afraid I can't do it," I said quietly, not knowing if he heard me, and not knowing if I wanted him to.

He moved his body so he was lying next to me, facing me. We were close, and even though no parts of us were touching, this felt like the most intimate we'd ever been.

"You're smart. You already studied once, which means you can do it again," he stated with a furrowed eyebrow. I shrugged. "You can write and read, I know that for sure," he teased, probably referring to our texting. "So what makes you think you can't do it?" It was a good question.

"I don't have any concentration skills, like none. Since my mother died, it's like it is too hard to focus on one thing. There's this feeling of unrest that makes me switch channels all the time when I'm watching TV, and I get distracted by the littlest things when I'm working on something. I haven't read a book in almost two years," I confessed. "Sometimes I worry that I'll never get it back, you know, the ability to concentrate and to think clearly."

He better not make a stupid joke; this was one of my biggest fears.

"I think you'll get it back. That's not something you can lose forever. Maybe it's just on a temporary leave. It might be something you can train though, you know? Like, start the studying, but do it slowly. You can be like the slowest student in class, the one everyone thinks is pretty dumb and underestimates. And then BAM! You get the highest grade."

I smiled at him, again surprised at how at ease he made me feel.

"In the meantime, I just want you to know I have mad reading aloud skills. You know, in case you want to make use of them."

"Really? That sounds perfect. It's like we're almost a match made in heaven." I stuck out my tongue and he laughed. I grabbed the book that was on my nightstand, a thriller that I'd been trying to read. I got as far as page 2.

"Here, this one. The lasagna will take an hour anyway," I told him.

And that's how I got a real-life Edward Cullen performance. He wasn't kidding about his mad reading aloud skills. He did different voices, paused when it got scary, and whispered when secrets were revealed. He drew me in completely, and I loved every second of it. He really got into it as well; it was amazing to see the different expressions crossing his face as the story developed and the characters did crazy things. _Why is there always someone that proposes to split the group up when walking around in an empty, dark building? Seriously._

Our bubble was rudely popped when two things happened at the same time. The oven buzzed, which meant our lasagna was ready. But more important, and more noisily, Alice came home stomping and cursing. Uh-oh, it sounded like she didn't have a good day. I looked up at Edward with scared eyes. Partly because the main character in our book was just grabbed by an arm that appeared from out of nowhere (_probably regretting that splitting up earlier_), and partly because Edward was going to meet my best friend. Which, you know, would make things a little more real. Plus, Alice could, well, take some getting used to.

When I tried to get up, I noticed how during the story I crawled toward Edward. Apparently my arm had made its way across his stomach, while his was behind my shoulders. We were so _friendly_. Yeah right.

I sat up and turned toward him.

"Ready to meet my friend?" I asked hesitantly. Hiding out here was not an option. I was hungry.

"Sure," he said without any hint of doubt. He had no idea what he was getting himself into. Really, no idea.

I opened the door and saw Alice with her back to me standing in front of the opened fridge. The doors to our bedrooms were at the opposite wall of the kitchen.

"Hey, Ali, there's…" I began.

"Bella!" She interrupted without looking back. I stepped into the living room, motioning for Edward to do the same.

"Do you know what she made me do today? I swear to you she gets crazier every fucking day. She has this insane idea that ladybugs will be the new thing. She wants to develop a line based on the patterns of their wings. Can you believe that? But, whatever, okay. I can get on board with that. Then, though, she asked me to 'go fetch' her a few of them, so we can use them as an example. And with a few, she meant 30. I had to go to the park, wearing my Jimmy Choos, Bella; my perfect, beautiful, _new_, high-heeled shoes, and walk through plants and bushes and mud to find those damn god-awful bugs that are so freaking small," she just ranted on, not turning around, not noticing me and Edward laughing as soundlessly as we could.

The picture in my head of a pissed, cursing and almost tripping Alice in the park was so hilarious, she was going to make me pee my pants. In the meantime she was throwing things out of the fridge into the blender, making one of her smoothies that were not made for drinking, if you asked me.

"The worst thing was that when you look for a bug, you know what else you find? Other bugs! And you know how fucking scared I am of spiders, B," she went on. She closed the fridge, and started looking for the lid of our blender. "So, when I started screaming after a spider crawled on my arm while I got stuck on a thorn bush and couldn't move, even the homeless person on a bench nearby was looking at me with pity in his eyes. Seriously, can you believe that shit?" She turned around, finally, about to push the button on the blender. At the same time though, she saw Edward, screamed "Shit!" again, and forgot to keep the lid firmly put on the blender. Our ceiling was now covered in green drab. _Yummy._ Some of it dripped down in Alice's hair. I couldn't hold it in anymore and doubled over, laughing so hard. Edward took this as a sign that it was okay to laugh and let out a booming laugh, clutching his stomach.

"Oh God." I hiccupped. "You were in the park, with the shoes and the spiders, and…" I had to breathe because laughing and talking were depriving me of oxygen. With one hand I clutched Edward's arm, otherwise I would definitely have fallen. "And— and now, you have green stuff in your hair." My voice ended in a high pitch. It set Edward and me both off again. Alice was not amused, however. I tried to get a grip, attempting to stand straight again without the need for support.

"I'm sorry that happened to you Alice, but I love you for being so crazy funny." I couldn't hide the smile. She looked a little friendlier already. "So, eh, yeah this is Edward." I gave him a little push, so he stumbled a little toward Alice. He was on his own now; I did my part of the introduction, right? He stepped forward, still chuckling, and put out his hand.

"Hi, Alice, it's really nice to meet you. You look lovely, even with the green hair and the cracks in your dress." What a charmer. But he was good. Alice was definitely melting.

She rolled her shoulders back, stood up straight and looked him in the eye with all the dignity she could find. I knew her. She wasn't going to feel bad about herself just because someone famous heard her embarrassing story. Alice was cool like that.

"Hi, Edward, it's nice to meet you, too. I wish I could say you look lovely as well, but, frankly, you look a little dissatisfied. Which, I have to tell you, is definitely not my fault. I've been trying to convince Bells here to try some hot, steamy phone sex." And, there it was: payback. She smirked at me.

"Ali, be nice," I said with my stern voice.

"Oh come on. I was kidding. Edward knows. Right?" she asked him. He just nodded, apparently rendered speechless by the combination of the words phone and sex.

I decided ignorance was the best policy in this case. "You wanna join us for dinner? Lasagna is in the oven and ready."

"Definitely. Let me take a shower real quick."

Dinner was actually a pleasant event. Alice behaved nicely after the phone sex incident. The lasagna tasted good, and a glass of wine loosened us all up a little. Edward and Alice bonded over her telling embarrassing stories about me. How nice. I even felt safe enough to leave them alone for a little while so I could call my dad, which I always did on Sundays. When I got back to the living room, they were doing the dishes and Edward was telling her a story about Jasper, and how he could certainly use some of Alice's fashion advice.

"I'm serious. He sincerely believes that dressing like a cowboy counts as formal dressing. And I'm not talking about just a pair of boots. No, he has a hat, too. The craziest thing is that _he gets_ offended when I refuse to be seen in public with him looking like that Woody guy from Toy Story."

"Well, just bring him along next time, and I'll give him some style. Although I should warn you, I may allow him to keep the hat."

"Alice has a thing for cowboys," I added.

They turned around, not having heard me enter the room.

"Everything ok with your dad?" Edward asked me. Alice smiled, knowing how many points he just scored by asking that question.

"Yes, he sounded good. He just got back from some kind of hiking trip with friends, which had been fun. Hey, you guys almost finished cleaning up already."

"Yes, we work fast. I'm heading to bed now though. This day was exhausting," Alice said. She put away the last plate and hung the towel over a chair. "Goodnight, guys, and sleep well. Or you know —do other stuff well," she said with a wink.

This made me realize that I had no idea where Edward planned on sleeping. I walked toward my bedroom on autopilot, and he followed me in there. I looked at my bed, and then back to him.

"Say, friend, where are you sleeping anyway?"

He kind of looked nervous, while lifting his hand to grip the back of his neck. With his face lowered, he glanced apprehensively at me.

"Well, when I decided to go to the airport, it was kind of an impulsive thing. I didn't pack any stuff or whatever, and I forgot to book a room or hotel. I'm sorry, but I should have told you earlier. I just really wasn't thinking about it until, well, now." Since he was looking genuinely distressed, I found myself wanting to reassure him that there was no need to worry.

"It's okay, Edward, really. Just spend the night here. It's no big deal. Right?"

"No, of course not," he answered. Looking at my bed, he mumbled, "no big deal at all."

"So, you really don't have anything with you? No PJ's?" I felt my face heating up, a blush creeping on my cheeks. In some kind of a weird way, Edward seemed to lose his awkwardness when I found mine.

"Actually, Bella, I normally don't wear any PJ's, just a pair of boxers." He was smirking. I knew it without even looking at him.

"Yeah, no. You're wearing a t-shirt." I started going through my closet, looking for a shirt big enough for him.

"What, afraid you can't keep your hands to yourself when I'm lying half naked next to you?"

"Oh, don't you get cocky, and just wear this." I threw some sports shirt at him and fled into the bathroom. He didn't need to see any more blushes from me. I heard him snickering when I closed the door. After using the toilet and washing my face, I put on some shorts and a tank top. It was a little too revealing and should be enough to wipe that smirk right of his face. I opened the bathroom door and saw him sitting on the edge of my bed, still wearing his pants, but he already changed shirts.

"I have an extra toothbrush if you want to use one," I informed him. He wasn't listening though, because apparently my legs were too distracting. When his eyes travelled higher, they got stuck again somewhere around my boobs. Hell yeah, it was my time to smirk.

"Edward, are you okay?" I feigned worry.

His eyes shot up to my face and he looked a little flustered. _Serves him right._

"I asked if you wanted to use a toothbrush, but you seemed really out of it," I said with all the seriousness I could muster. He totally sensed my little game of pretending, and suddenly a look of determination appeared in his eyes that made me a little worried on what to expect next.

While looking me straight in the eyes, he started unbuttoning his jeans. _God, please do not let it be boxer briefs, for I will not survive such temptation._

Revealing slightly loose-fitting black boxers, he threw his jeans out of the way, and walked toward me. "A toothbrush would be lovely."

After giving him one, we stood in silence beside each other, brushing our teeth. Tension was flowing around us until my small bathroom just didn't seem to be able to contain it anymore. I quickly rinsed my mouth, put my toothbrush back in the cup, and slipped into the bedroom and into my bed. Feelings of panic surfaced and I realized I was getting too close to crossing the carefully set friendship line. This was not the time for crossing, I knew, although when Edward turned off the bathroom light and crossed the room toward the bed, I wanted to erase that line altogether. He got under the covers too, and then there was silence. And it was not good.

I felt like I needed to do something to break not only the silence, but also the tension. I knew it was there. He had to know too. I hated that uncomfortable feeling. We could be fun, relaxed, natural. But at that moment we were none of those things, and I knew damn well where this leading to: me making a fool out of myself.

"We're not doing any kind of sex related activities, here, tonight, in my bed. I just thought you should know that. So you can stop with the whole I'm-oozing-sex-appeal-out-of-every-pore-of-my-body -thing, cause I'm not responding to it. No, sir. And it doesn't matter that maybe some parts of me want to respond in a very non-friendly way that would involve a lot less clothes than we're wearing now. You know why it doesn't matter? Because we are friends, and friends _maybe_ sleep in the same bed but they sure as hell do not sleep together. So, yeah…," I said lamely, clearly not knowing how to end this little speech. He was silent, and I couldn't blame him for that. Still, I needed to hear what he was thinking about all this, more than I needed chocolate covered Oreo's when I was PMSing. "Is there anything you would like to comment on?"

I felt him turn and looked to my left. He was lying on his side, looking at me doubtfully. The wheels were turning in his head, I could see it. He was going to tell me that I was crazy, that he didn't feel any sexual tension at all, that he didn't even want to be more than friends on any level.

He opened his mouth but closed it again after two seconds.

Oh but it could be worse of course. What if Edward didn't even want to be friends anymore? What if he finally saw that I was just some weird girl that was going to make him wait for God knows how long? I swallowed, not sure if I was ready to take the blow.

"What if we weren't friends?"

There it was: the blow.

"You don't want to be friends anymore?" I said with a voice that was quivering way more than I would've liked to admit. I sounded like a six year old that got thrown out of the sandpit by her friend.

The doubt in his eyes turned into frustration. He suddenly sat up, so I was looking at his back.

"No, Bella, I don't want to be friends. This so-called friendship is driving me nuts, okay? When we speak on the phone I want to tell you stuff that I'm not supposed to, because I'm your _friend_," he said that last word with venom in his voice. "When I text you, I secretly want to ask you what you're wearing and say all kinds of dirty things, but I can't, because I'm your goddamn _friend_. When you opened the door earlier today, I wanted to kiss you so badly when you stood there looking at me with those big, brown eyes. And I won't even tell you what I really wanted to do 10 minutes ago when I saw you wearing something that you call PJs. Because apparently I'm just your friend, and friends, like you just said, don't sleep with each other. So, no this whole friendship is not working out for me," he said with evident frustration.

I was trying to hold back everything: tears, words, lasagna. Vomiting was probably not the best idea right now, but his words were shocking in a way that nauseated me. I hadn't seen him like this before. I was usually the one with crazy, inappropriately honest outbursts, not him.

His shoulders hunched and he sighed. The frustration and anger slipped away, and when he spoke again, it was with a voice that broke my heart.

"Is it such a bad thing to want more with you? Is it so unimaginable for you to be with me?" He turned his head toward me then and I saw his eyes were oozing insecurity instead of sex appeal. And he was still the most beautiful man I'd ever see. I quickly sat up, too.

"No, it's not a bad thing at all. In fact, it's a very wonderful thing. _You_ are a very wonderful thing." Suddenly, it hit me. I jumped up, off the bed."That's exactly the problem!" I exclaimed. Judging by his look, he was far from understanding me.

"You are wonderful. You not only listen to all my crazy talk, but you give it right back to me. You ask about my dad. You get along with my best friend. We have a connection, and I know it. I feel it. And that's exactly why it is so hard for me to be more than friends with you, because we could be so good together. We could be close to perfection. If it would be anybody else, it would be less scary, because it would fail. Not us though; we might succeed with flying colors. And then what Edward? What if we don't fail? What if everything could be perfect, but I can't keep up? Because it's too fucking scary to have something that would break you if you lost it. I know what it's like to lose someone and I don't ever want that to happen again." I was half sobbing, half hyperventilating at that point. He was quick to get up, and he threw his arms around me. Nobody ever held me as tight as he did in that moment. He told me that it was okay. That he was here. That nothing was happening. I cried. Harder than I had in a very long time. He knew it wasn't about him and me, and I knew I didn't have to explain. He didn't promise he would always be there, because life doesn't allow you to make promises like that. He let me cry and soak the shirt he was wearing. When I calmed down, we laid down on the bed again. No talk of sex or relationships occurred to us anymore.

"Tell me about her. Tell me about your mom."

So I did. I told him about how I would sometimes come home from school on Fridays and she would be waiting with our bags packed, ready to go away for a girls' weekend. We often went to Paris, but I never saw the Louvre because she claimed it was boring to do all the touristy stuff. So we always ended up walking around discovering cute little stores and trying to find out which restaurant served the best crème brulée. I told him about the paintings she used to make with all the colors she could fit in there. He smiled when I told him about the trite jokes she and my dad made every single day and somehow they still made each other laugh. I told him about when she got sick and how scared we all were. I told him about how courageous and strong she was, how she never complained. He stroked my hair when I told him how extraordinary it was that she was able to enjoy so much even when the cancer made it difficult for her to do so. I told him how I miss her always and about the moments it overwhelms me.

"It can be Mother's day and I'm fine. But when I had to go to the dentist and he found three holes in my teeth, I cried for an hour because I couldn't call to tell her that. And it's just—there's no one in the world you know, that will actually care about hole in your teeth the same way your mom will. Although she probably would have told me that it was my own fault and I should stop eating so much candy." I laughed because I can actually hear her say it.

"She was an incredible mom." It's not a question he poses.

"Yes she was, and she always will be. Because what she gave me, the love, the attention, the humor, it will always stay with me, you know?"

He smiled. "That's true. And I'm so grateful for that, for her being your mom. Because even though I don't know her, I do know you. And the strength, and love, and the fact that you think your own jokes are the funniest of all—" he laughed when I had to punch his arm for that – but yeah it's definitely true, "I mean all the things you saw in her, they shine through in you. I hear them through the phone every day and I see them when I'm near you. So I'm grateful for her, for helping you make this awesome person that you are now."

He looked so sincere. I swallowed.

"That is the probably the best thing anyone had ever said to me." I smiled at him.

"Probably?" he asked, quasi indignantly.

"Well, I forget a lot. So it could be, like, the second best thing anyone has ever said to me."

He moved to tickle me, so I was quick to say "I'm kidding, I'm kidding!"

We laid down again, and I yawned.

"We should get some sleep," he suggested.

"Yes. Seriously though, thank you for listening. Thank you for being here."

"Thank you for telling me. I love to hear your stories."

"It's not boring?"

"Nothing you ever tell me is boring."

"Wait until I tell you about—".

"Goodnight, Bella," he interrupted me.

"Goodnight, Edward." I closed my eyes.

And that was the first night I slept next to Edward Cullen.

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><p><strong>Please review and let me know whether you have as much fun reading this little story as I have writing it :) <strong>


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